Understanding ETFs and Why They Beat Mutual Funds as an Investment

This Element is an excerpt from Three Paths to Profitable Investing: Using ETFs in Healthcare, Infrastructure, and the Environment to Grow Your Assets (9780137054268) by Jeffrey Feldman and Andrew Hyman. Available in print and digital formats.

What ETFs are, how they work, and why they’re so valuable to today’s investors.

Is there a low-cost, simple investment tool for buying into future trends? Yes: the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). ETFs trade on a stock exchange and are comprised of a basket of securities that track a particular index. ETFs can also track a sector’s performance, letting investors buy into an industry without relying on individual stocks. Unlike mutual funds, ETFs trade continuously.