3 Growth ETFs to Buy With $1,000 and Hold Forever

Are you looking for investment growth without all the monitoring and activity that growth portfolios usually require? Well, good news! It's possible. You just need to be willing to let someone else handle the stock selection and portfolio-maintenance duties.

I'm talking about exchange-traded funds (or ETFs), of course, which are managed on your behalf by companies that understand the upside of a passive approach to stock picking. Here's a closer look at three different growth ETFs you can buy and hold forever. If you have $1,000 available to invest that isn't needed to pay bills, bolster an emergency fund, or reduce short-term debt, you might want to consider putting it toward shares in one of these ETFs.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

There are several obvious first choices in your hunt for a growth-oriented exchange-traded fund, like the Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: VUG) or the iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: IWF).

The same basic design flaw is evident in both of these ETFs though, along with most others like them. That is, these cap-weighted funds are still very top-heavy. Nearly one-third of these two ETFs' total values consist solely of their stakes in Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Adding Amazon and Facebook parent Meta Platforms to the mix pumps their top five stocks' combined values up to nearly 50% of each fund's total assets.

The iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: IVW) doesn't quite have this same problem.

While it's hardly a so-called "equal weight" fund (funds that hold equal-sized stakes in every stock they own regardless of the underlying companies' market capitalizations), it's nowhere near as top-heavy as other similar ETFs. The iShares fund's top five holdings only account for roughly one-third of its total assets, while its top three only make up one-fourth of this ETF's total value. Moreover, because it's based on the S&P 500 Growth Index, which considers momentum as one of its inclusion factors, its allocation looks different from those of more popular funds, too. Nvidia is actually this particular ETF's biggest position right now, followed by Microsoft, then Apple, then Meta, and Amazon. That's in measurably stark contrast with each of these companies' current market caps.

It may not always matter. More often than not when one of these stocks is rising or falling, the rest of them are rising or falling with it.

To the extent it does matter though, the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF is a better-balanced fund than comparable alternatives, and given enough time, every little nuance matters. The longer time marches on, in fact, the more these little things matter.

Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF

Odds are good that nearly every growth stock you own (or have at least considered buying) is a large-cap name. And that's fine. These are also the tickers you're likely hearing the most about.

This approach, however, excludes a wide swath of stocks with higher odds of better growth. That's mid-cap stocks, and especially mid-cap growth stocks.

There are several such exchange-traded funds to choose from, including the iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: IJK), which includes all the growth names found in Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index. These of course are the stocks that aren't quite big enough to qualify as an S&P 500 constituent, but are bigger than the small caps that make up the S&P 600 Small Cap index. These companies are often in their high-growth phase following their wobbly start-up period but before their sheer size makes it difficult to steer the organization. That's how and why the S&P 400 index -- and the S&P 400 Growth index in particular -- boasts a long track record of outperforming the S&P 500. These outfits are in their sweet spot for growth.

Data by YCharts.

Given the choice between owning the aforementioned iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF and the Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: VOT) though, you're arguably at least a bit better off with the latter.

See, the iShares mid-cap fund is limited to stocks within the S&P 400, but those 400 stocks aren't the market's only mid-cap names. They're hand-picked by Standard & Poor's for inclusion in the index.

The Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF, on the other hand, is built to reflect the holdings and performance of the CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices) US Mid-Cap Growth Index, which consists of fewer stocks, but also arguably offers better sector-based balance and a higher overall quality of holdings. Names found within the Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF that aren't held by the iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF include Constellation Energy and Palantir Technologies. The former has been a strangely productive utility ticker since 2022, and the latter has been one of the market's best-performing artificial intelligence stocks since 2023.

Long-term holders of the Vanguard fund may not always be so lucky. Given the limitations of what's allowed to be in the S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth index though, Vanguard's option may be the better bet more often than not.

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund

Finally, add the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEMKT: XLK) to your list of exchange-traded funds you can buy and hold forever if you've got $1,000 you can commit toward reaching a growth goal.

You'll notice it's the only sector-based fund to earn a spot on this list. There's a reason. That is, while every sector's got its risk-adjusted upside, tech companies have historically offered investors the greatest potential for growth.

The bulk of the world's most meaningful and most lucrative sociocultural advancements like personal computers, mobile phones, and artificial intelligence have all ultimately been rooted in technology. That's just the nature of the business. And that's not likely to change anytime soon.

There's one not-so-small detail to consider if you're planning on stepping into this particular exchange-traded fund. It's not especially well-balanced. Like the aforementioned Vanguard Growth ETF and iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF, this one's pretty top-heavy. Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft collectively make up 40% of this fund's assets. Adding its positions in Broadcom and Salesforce makes its top five holdings worth nearly half of the ETF's total value. That's not a level of diversification most people would be happy with if they were picking individual stocks for their portfolio.

This is one of those cases, however, where investors are just going to have to hold their nose and dive in, trusting that the premise makes long-term sense even if shuffles in the market's leading technology names are going to create above-average short-term volatility. Again, you're not looking for certain individual stocks. You're looking to hold a long-term stake in an entire world-changing sector. That requires a bigger-picture mindset with slightly different expectations.

It also helps if the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund isn't the only ETF you own.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Salesforce, Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Growth ETF, and Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and Constellation Energy and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.