Health Care Select Sector SPDR
The simplest way to get more healthcare exposure into your portfolio is to buy the biggest healthcare stock fund out there — the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV).
The fund has over $9.2 billion in assets under management, making it one of the most popular and respected healthcare ETFs out there. Additionally, it is also one of the cheapest at a meager expense ratio of just 0.16% — or put another way, $1.60 on every $1,000 you invest.
For those unfamiliar, an ETF is an exchange-traded product but is similar to a mutual fund in that it is made up of many underlying parts. The constituent stocks of XLV include drugmakers like Pfizer (PFE), insurers like United Health Group (UNH) and medical device companies like Medtronic (MDT).
And lest you think it’s just the long-term potential that makes XLV attractive, the ETF is up 4% so far in 2014 vs. a pretty flat market, and up 21% in the last 12 months vs. 15% gains for the S&P 500.
