4 Simple ETFs to Buy With $1,000 and Hold Forever

Forget timing the market—these four ETFs build wealth while you sleep.

Set-and-Forget Foundation Builders

Dump your thousand bucks into these diversified baskets and watch compounding do the heavy lifting. No stock-picking stress, no emotional trading—just steady exposure to market growth.

Global Market Capture Strategy

Broad international ETFs spread risk across economies while tapping into emerging market potential. Geographic diversification protects against regional downturns.

Sector-Specific Growth Accelerators

Targeted ETFs zero in on high-growth industries without the volatility of individual stocks. Technology, healthcare, and green energy sectors offer explosive upside.

Dividend Aristocrat Income Streams

Income-focused ETFs deliver quarterly payouts from companies with decades of dividend increases. Turns your thousand into a mini cash-flow machine.

Because let's be honest—most active fund managers can't beat the market anyway. Buy these four, hold forever, and outperform the professionals.

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Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

The(VOO 0.51%) is the simplest way to stay fully invested in the market and not worry about picking individual stocks. It tracks the S&P 500 index, which consists of the 500 largest companies in the U.S. Its holdings are diversified across sectors, although as technology stocks have outperformed, they now account for about a third of the index.

The ETF has delivered a 14.6% annualized return over the last decade. If you only have room for one ETF in your portfolio, this is the one that can help you compound wealth for decades.

Vanguard Growth ETF

For investors who want to put more emphasis on fast-growing companies, the(VUG 0.75%) is a great way to do it. This ETF focuses on large-cap growth stocks, giving you a heavy dose of technology and consumer companies with strong revenue momentum.

The ETF tracks the, which is essentially the growth portion of the S&P 500. More than 60% of the ETF's holdings are in the tech sector, which has helped power it to an average annual return of 17.1% the past 10 years. If you're a big believer in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, this is a good way to get some great exposure without solely focusing on the sector.

Invesco QQQ Trust

The(QQQ 0.62%) takes growth exposure up another notch. It tracks the, which is heavy in technology and innovation-focused companies. Tech makes up more than 60% of the fund, which is why it has dramatically outperformed the S&P 500 over the last decade with a 19.4% average annual return.

While it shares many of the same top holdings as the Vanguard Growth ETF, it is slightly less concentrated among its top positions. Its expense ratio is a bit higher than Vanguard's ETFs at 0.2%, but the fund's results speak for themselves.

Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

Right now, the market is all about growth, but adding a value and income component to your portfolio can balance out the growth-heavy nature of the first three ETFs. The(SCHD -0.29%) does this by focusing on companies with consistent free cash FLOW and a strong record of raising dividends. The fund currently yields close to 4%, which is attractive whether you reinvest it back into the ETF or take the cash.

Over the last decade, SCHD has returned about 12.3% annually, which is solid given how much growth has outperformed over this period. It's also solidly ahead of the 10.4% return from large-cap value funds over the same period, according to Morningstar.