Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, and index funds are very popular with investors; both offer advantages over actively managed mutual funds. The question of whether to include them in your investment portfolio is largely decided by whether they suit your personal investment style, strategy and goals.
Index funds are passively managed mutual funds designed to mirror the performance of a market index such as the S&P 500. The two primary advantages of passively managed index funds over actively managed mutual funds are (1) lower management expense ratios, which are typically one-half to two-thirds less than actively managed fund fees and (2) simply the fact that index funds have historically outperformed the majority of actively managed funds. However, there are some actively managed funds that generate significantly higher investment returns than index funds, and the primary disadvantage of index funds is the lack of flexibility that automatically precludes them from ever being able to make dramatic gains over and above average market performance.
An ETF is an equity investment constructed to track a commodity, index, market sector or basket of assets, which is traded in the same way as an individual stock. ETFs have skyrocketed in popularity with investors since their appearance on the investment stage. The comparison of ETFs to mutual funds involves several factors, but the current consensus is that the overall advantage goes to ETFs. Among notable advantages, ETFs offer the following:
One disadvantage of ETFs is that they cannot reinvest dividends.
Index funds are generally more suited to less sophisticated, more risk-averse investors who have longer-term investment horizons. For example, those who are using equity investing as part of a long-term retirement plan and prefer to keep things simple, minimize investment costs and look to make reasonable profits from the historical trend of market values to increase over time.
ETFs are more appealing to investors with more hands-on investment styles, those aggressively seeking higher short-term returns on investments and sophisticated investors who desire greater access to alternative investments such as the forex market and futures.