MarketsMuse ETF update profiles a story that is now official: exchange-traded funds have surpassed mutual funds for being the most popular investment vehicle for investment advisers. Extract below courtesy of reporting by Chuck Jaffe/MarketWatch.com

A nail gun is a handy tool, so long as you’re not shooting yourself in the foot with it.

The same can be said for exchange-traded funds.

It’s now official that ETFs — which are mutual funds built to trade like a stock — are the most popular investment vehicle for investment advisers, but it may be possible that some investors who work with pros may not recognize that they are aiming at their own bunions.

The Journal of Financial Planning and the FPA Research and Practice Institute released the “2015 Trends in Investing Survey” this week and it showed that ETFs are now the “preferred investment vehicle” among advisers, with 81% of the wealth counselors surveyed using or recommending ETFs to clients.

That makes ETFs the top tool for advisers for the first time in the history of the study. When the study began 10 years ago, the 2006 results showed that just 40% of advisers were using or recommending ETFs to their customers.

Furthermore, over half of the advisers surveyed plan to increase their use or recommendation of ETFs in the next 12 months, far outstripping the increased usage of any other investment type.

For the entire story from MarketWatch.com, please click here