Niche ETFs to Address Baby Boomer Needs

A new slew of exchange-traded funds meant to appeal to the Baby Boomer demographic by investing in the diseases and health concerns of older Americas is on the way, BusinessWeek reports. Investors can plunk their money into specific disease-category funds, which run the gamut from cancer, to eye maladies and over-active bladders. They will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange in a few weeks, after the Securities & Exchange Commission gives the OK. The funds are called HealthShares and were developed by Ferghana Wellspring in New York. Some investment theorists state that investing in diabetes, via the metabolic-endocrine disorders ETF, or finding new remedies for baldness, will help investors generate low-risk returns by owning a piece of every asset class available. Ferghana Managing Director William Kridel states that HealthShares can get investors in early on up-and-coming biotechs, unlike broader funds that may be over-weighted with slow-growth companies. Large pharmaceutical and biotech companies will be knocked out as the upper limit on market capitalization of HealthShares companies will range from $10 billion to $20 billion, depending on the fund. The negative aspect is that these ETFs may be too risky to experiment with without a professional advisor on hand. Investors eager to advance cures and do well in the market might be better off donating some of their money research foundations and investing the rest in something safer than biotech, ETF analysts noted.