A Suze Orman exclusive

While it's obvious to see why I like ETFs, I don't want to give the impression that I think all mutual funds are a waste. I realize many of you are invested in funds through your 401(k) or 403(b), and that funds are the only option you have. That's fine. Funds are not necessarily a bad investment. My point is that they may not be the best investment. And hey, bug your Human Resources department to add ETFs to your 401(k) plan. If enough folks make a fuss, you just might get your company to listen.

That said, there are still plenty of reasons to stick with funds. Low-cost no-load index funds, such as the Vanguard 500 Stock Index, with an annual fee of just 0.18 percent, or the Vanguard Extended Market Index, are terrific investing options.

And it's important to realize that ETFs are unmanaged. By that I mean they are simply constructed to mimic an index. There's no professional money manager sitting behind the scenes deciding if now is a good time to invest in Cisco or sell General Electric. While it has been very hard for most mutual fund managers to beat the performance of their benchmark indexes over the long-term, there are indeed many talented managers who do outperform them. If you feel your fund manager offers you a good "value add" then, by all means, go with a fund.

It is also important to note that investing is a long-term endeavor. While the instant liquidity of an ETF is nice, I am certainly not recommending you should become an active day trader. Trying to anticipate every shimmy and shake in the stock market is a loser's game. For your long-term investments, funds can indeed be a viable investing option.

But just promise me you will abandon your blind faith in mutual funds. Do your homework and make sure that if you use funds you are truly getting your money's worth. And at the same time, check out ETFs. I bet they could be a valuable complement to your fund portfolio.

I worked in the brokerage industry when I was getting my start, and I met plenty of folks who were too scared or stubborn to change with the times. Eventually that approach works out about as well as the evolution of the dinosaurs. I hope you can be more open to changing with the investing times by giving ETFs a real look.

Change is good. New is good. You simply can't afford to ignore ETFs.