ETF: A good way to start investment

John Bogle (Vanguard's founder) once said,
"We are too smart for our own good."
and we always remember that line while investing.

We do not usually recommend investing in individual stocks.
We want to avoid risk - be that "Google" or "Cisco".
Some days we may ... but not today...

We feel that continuous investment for a long time in some
good low-cost Mutual Funds always gives returns in a great way.

And we also like ETF (Exchange Traded Fund)s.

Disadvantage: Broker commission to be paid for every installment
of your investment which could be absent in a
well-chosen Mutual Fund.
[Tip: You can choose a broker like www.Scottrade.com which
has only $7 for "market" or "limit" orders]

Advantage: It can be bought and sold at anytime of the day
and with much less initial investment.

You may know and research more about ETFs in
"ishares.com", "etfconnect.com", "vanguard.com".

It is good to buy some in Energy sector, International sector
and Health-Care sector (the last ones are quite cheap nowadays
after the great fall of Merck and Pfizer).
Specific Names for today ?:
XLE (for energy sector), XLF( Finance),
PPH (US Health-care), IXJ (Global Health-care)

Any other ETF in these sectors would also be good enough.

Yes. We own those in our retirement portfolios because with
these ETFs, we believe, we can sleep well in coming nights ...