What if, that form of herd mentality aside, carried over into a novel investment idea? I use the word novel to suggest recent popularity and it can aptly be applied to exchange traded funds or ETFs. ETFs, have been around for over a decade. Morphing from the world of closed-end funds, they are structured differently than mutual funds and were originally designed for the institutional investor, an entity who purchases such large quantities of securities because a purchase that large might alter the preferred target price.