Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are growing. Investors are choosing low annual expense and market return over high annual expense and promised performance.

Total ETF inflow is growing faster than Mutual Fund inflow. ETF inflow grew from $42.5 billion in 2000 to $54.4 billion in 2004. In contrast, mutual fund inflow fell from $309.4 billion in 2000 to $180.3 billion in 2004. Standard & Poors Depositary Receipts Trust (SPY) is the largest and oldest ETF. From the one fund SPY started in 1993 the number of ETFs has grown to 150 in 2004.

Growth of ETFs is fueled by investors searching for market performance. About 20% of conventional mutual funds do beat the market. The puzzle is which funds will win, in the future. ETFs, on the other hand, have a reasonably good record of matching the performance of their underlying index. For instance, in 2004, SPY value grew 10.92% and the value of the underlying S&P 500 index grew at 10.88%. The promise of the conventional mutual fund is that it will deliver superior results. The promise of the ETF is that it will match the performance of its underlying index.

Expense for ETFs is less than for conventional mutual funds. A prime reason for the mutual funds