By Scott Ronalds

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are growing in popularity and with good reason. They’re simple, low cost, transparent and provide market-like returns. But … they’re not for everyone.

In a newly published paper, we compare the experience of an ETF investor (Jake) to that of a Steadyhand client (Julie). We focus on four areas: administration, communication, advice and most importantly, returns.

We’re doing the comparison because nobody else has evaluated or compared the two investor experiences and we think it’s important as ETFs become a more prominent fixture in the investment landscape.

For investors who are frustrated with the returns and business practices of the traditional wealth management companies, ETFs are a good option. For many of the frustrated, however, Steadyhand is a better fit.