Most people are hardwired to look for shortcuts. The fastest way home from work. The most efficient way to mow the lawn. The chance to make our lives easier or more productive can be a positive in many work environments. It may also make you feel more accomplished in other aspects of your life as well.

However, when that same impulse is applied to the stock market, it takes a much darker turn. 

People turn to shortcuts in the stock market because they want to become wealthier, more secure, or simply make up for lost time. This often takes the form of searching out stock tips or implementing complicated trading strategies. Both can asymmetrically skew your normal risk tolerance. Furthermore, it can lead to significant damage to your hard-earned money and your confidence if these investments go sideways.

Want to know a great stock market shortcut? Simplify.

That’s it.

Take something that’s extremely complicated or over-thought and distill it down to an easy process. That’s what exchange-traded funds do. They turned a burdensome, opaque, and expensive mutual fund into a transparent, low-cost, and tax-efficient vehicle. Game over.

You went from not knowing what you own or when it would ultimately be shuffled around to exactly what’s in every fund and what its key parameters are.

Think about it for a second:

These are the core fundamentals of the largest and most heavily owned ETFs in the world. They truly are the best shortcut available for long-term investors with diversified portfolios.

The important thing to remember is that ETFs aren’t a “get rich quick scheme”. They aren’t going to double in a matter of weeks or turn parabolic in their performance curve. They are simply going to give you the returns of the underlying portfolio of assets less a minimal fee.