ETF Growth Story Continues

Listen to The ETF Store Show every Tuesday at 9am on ESPN 1510 as we cover everything you need to know about Exchange Traded Funds and the world of investing. On our most recent radio broadcast, we discussed the incredible ETF growth story that continues to unfold right before our eyes.  Recent ETF data released by ETF Industry Association shows continued strong growth with assets increasing over $75 billion since the beginning of the year and the number of ETF products growing to 1,476 – a 15% increase compared to the same time last year.  New cash flowing into ETFs continues to come at the expense of traditional mutual funds as investors become better educated on the potential advantages of ETFs including lower costs, greater tax efficiency, intraday trading, and the ability to access a wide variety of alternative asset classes.  Total ETF assets now stand at $1.2 trillion and Cerulli Associates projects the astronomical growth to continue with ETF assets hitting $3.8 trillion by the end of 2016. Listen to our full show here as we discuss the shifting demographics driving this staggering growth and why we think ETFs are more like the digital music in your iPod while mutual funds resemble something closer to cassette tapes – or even the old 8 tracks.  Which would you rather invest in?  Plus, we explain the difference between index mutual funds and ETFs and examine a high flying agricultural ETF (ticker RJA) in our weekly ETF Spotlight.