What's in a name?

It’s a shame that exchange-traded funds have such a technical-sounding, unfriendly name, as opposed to mutual funds that sound so fuzzy and warm. In essence, ETFs are nothing more than low-cost index mutual funds that are bought and sold in a slightly different manner. Yet many people seem to believe that ETFs are only for sophisticated investors, day-traders, and big wheeler-dealers....in part because of that darned name. Hmmm. Maybe if I changed my name to Einstein, people would think I'm a genius.

Albert