📊 Stocks, ETFs & Mutual Funds: Core Building Blocks

Explainer

• Stocks: Ownership shares in a company
• ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds): Baskets of investments traded like stocks
• Mutual Funds: Professionally managed pools of investments

Comparison: ETFs vs. Mutual Funds

• ETFs: Trade intraday, lower costs, more tax-efficient
• Mutual Funds: Actively managed (higher fees), good for retirement accounts

Guide: Building a Simple Portfolio

Decide your risk tolerance

Use index ETFs (like S&P 500 funds) for broad exposure

Mix in bonds for stability

Reinvest dividends for compounding growth

Trends in 2025

• Thematic ETFs (AI, clean energy, space exploration) gaining traction
• Zero-fee funds expanding access
• More people using direct indexing (customized index investing)