5 Mutual Funds to Buy for 2013

SPDR S&P Mid Cap 400 ETF

OK, it’s not a traditional mutual fund, nor is it even a managed fund. But, if the opportunity to get in or out of a fund on an intraday basis is available, why not take it, right? As such, put the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF (NYSE:MDY) in your portfolio, or at least on your watchlist, for the coming year.

Just for the record, yes, I am the guy that said there was no real point in owning the iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (NYSE:IWM) over the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY), since it hadn’t offered up any better results than its large-cap counterpart in several years.

Mid caps, however, have quietly outpaced large caps several years now, advancing 135% over the past ten years compared to 118% for small caps and only 62% for large caps. While nothing lasts forever, mid caps are for the time being still systemically better positioned for growth than other market cap groups are.

They give you most of the stability and predictability of large companies, but with most of the nimbleness and newness of small ones.