Beginning today, we will turn our attention in this column to a different area of investing — the emerging markets (EM). This week’s EM exchange-traded fund (ETF) pick is the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO), a huge, $43.7 billion fund run by Vanguard, one of the largest American investment management companies.

As a quick review, the term “emerging market” is generally used in reference to any country that has some of the characteristics of a developed nation (e.g. the United States), but yet does not quite meet the standards for being considered fully developed. The four largest “emerging” economies in the world are the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China.