An enormous amount of debate is currently occurring among financial market participants and central bank observers regarding the possible methods the Federal Reserve may pursue in an attempt to extricate itself from the ongoing quantitative easing policy of purchasing $85 billion a month in debt securities. The recent talk mostly focuses on the idea that markets would benefit from the Fed elucidating a detailed and actionable strategy that can serve as a framework to inform investors, corporate decision-makers, and financial intermediaries of what they can expect when central banks finally begin winding down the extraordinary monetary policy actions pursued since the 2008 financial crisis. At the core of this discussion, the fundamental issue of confidence in the competency of global central bankers becomes the salient factor as they begin to map an exit strategy that will ideally reduce the size of their growing balance sheets without causing major disruptions to

In 1986, I visited the Philippine Stock Exchange. There were few, if any, computers on the floor. Black markers registered trading activity on a giant whiteboard. And the feeling that I came away with was that I had caught a glimpse of an incomplete science experiment.

Today, however, a number of frontier economies have upped their level of sophistication. The Philippines recently benefited from credit agency upgrades to its sovereign debt. Direct investment by foreigners has been bountiful. What's more, stock investors have pursued the up-and-comer for greater total return potential. Year over year, ETF enthusiasts have garnered roughly 53% from a dedication to iShares MSCI Philippines (EPHE).

That said, EPHE seems to be running on fumes. The Relative Strength Factor score for this exchange-traded vehicle has stayed in the top 5% of all exchange-traded funds for most of 2013, making it vulnerable to a volatile "risk-off" change of

The phenomenal success of WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity (DXJ) has been a huge story in ETFs this year. However, WisdomTree Investments (WETF) also oversees a family of ETFs that take a different approach to popular dividend strategies.

The firm is "arguably the most innovative ETF provider out there," writes Andres Cardenal for The Motley Fool.

"In the world of dividend investing, most people usually think about big companies in conservative sectors, and most dividend ETFs typically go in that direction," Cardenal said. "But it sometimes pays to be creative, and dividend-weighted ETFs with a focus on smaller companies could be a better alternative in terms of generating superior returns in the long term."

One example is WisdomTree Trust SmallCap Dividend Fund (DES) which gives exposure to smaller company growth.

WisdomTree's index methodology for its U.S. dividend family is notably different than a market-capitalization weighted approach: