What Dream ETF Do I Wish Existed? Here Are My Thoughts

If you are someone who wants to really just put money into an investment account and just “chill,” there are a number of really solid ETFs like SPY, QQQ, VOO, and others that have strong one-year and three-year returns for investors to put their money in right now. 

However, one Redditor brings up a super interesting question as they envision something of a dream ETF scenario. In other words, their post in r/ETFs basically asks what ETF you want right now that isn’t available, almost as if they are asking what your dream ETF would look like. 

Why Are ETFs Having A Moment

At the very top of the list as to why ETFs are having a moment, and likely why this Redditor is inquiring about this, is that you gain a lot of exposure to a broad basket of different sectors and securities with ETFs. 

One ETF might be super heavy in tech stocks, while another might be more focused on healthcare or financial stocks, with a number of names in the tech sector to help balance everything out. The bottom line is that with an ETF, you automatically gain ownership in hundreds of some of the most important and biggest names in the market today, without having to individually buy each stock separately. 

Ultimately, the hope is that with ETFs, you have more diversification in your portfolio, which will help you during periods of market volatility. Take SPY, for example, one of the most prominent ETFs in the market today, and it’s currently returning 13.67% year-to-date. 

The ETF has approximately 34.73% of its holdings in tech, another 13% in financial services, 9% in healthcare, 3% in energy, and so on. Big names like NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Tesla, and Berkshire Hathaway are all present, so there is plenty of exposure to big names and market movers. 

While you want to look at ETFs that match your desired portfolio, performance history, like SPY, which has returned 21% in the last three years, or an ETF’s P/E, or price-to-earnings ratio, which shows how much investors will pay for each dollar of an ETF’s earnings. 

What Does a Dream ETF Really Look Like? 

Here’s the fun part: a dream ETF for me is likely to be very different than the dream ETF of my neighbor, best friend, and even my spouse. The good news is that there are no right or wrong answers here, just a vision of what would help you make the most money possible in the shortest amount of time. 

So, while the Reddit comment section can joke that they would like a “4x Leveraged Nancy Pelosi” ETF, whose positions have considerably beaten the market as of late, this isn’t the only viable or serious option on the table. 

Ideally, one example I would like to see is an ETF based on sector rotations that shifts around its holdings based on market conditions. One Redditor points out that if they had been able to draw up an ETF that rotated to energy in 2022, it would be up 68% as of 2025, while other sectors performed considerably worse. The same goes for an ETF that had heavy weight in the defense industry this year, which would be up 75%. So, an ETF that shifts around based on market conditions is one potential dream scenario. 

In the best possible scenario, a dream ETF could hold up with a 6-8% yield year in and year out, which would give me enough meaningful income but avoid relying on too many risky options or positions that are unstable. REITs and utilities tend to be better at surviving recessions, so I would imagine that another such dream ETF might be a combination of these asset classes. 

Ideally, the very best ETF would be one that would automatically move stocks in and out as they rise and fall. While this feels like a technological impossibility given the volatility of individual stocks day-to-day, the dream ETF we can all agree on is one that never loses any money! 

Some Other Dream ETF Possibilities

How about an ETF that revolves around sustainability-focused companies? Given the emphasis on building more sustainable products across any number of industries right now, including electronics, there is certainly an opportunity for a sustainability-based ETF to come together and create a fund. 

I also love the idea that there is an ETF that is solely focused on dividend-paying stocks. While this one might come with some risk, as these stocks are going to come from various sectors, adding names like Verizon, Coca-Cola, but also big names like Target, Universal, Chevron, Oxford Square Capital, Prospect Capital, and the like could drive some pretty strong results for investors. 

Finally, how about a dream ETF that actively captures all of the top stocks from around the world? This would be equivalent to the S&P 500 but expanded to include the top 1000 or 1500 names worldwide. Given that the S&P generally outperforms the rest of the market, it is reasonable to expect that expanding this to international names would increase the likelihood of more profits and financial opportunities for investors. 

Ultimately, the good news is that there are plenty of ETFs available to choose from today, so you don’t need a dream ETF. However, it’s fun to think about what I might do if I had all of the money in the world.