9 Best ETFs For 2025 and Beyond

At the end of 2023, I published "5 Best ETFs for 2024 and Beyond", which turned out to be a popular post. Since then, I’ve discovered and written about more ETF ideas this year. It’s the perfect opportunity to expand the list and make it a 9 Best ETFs!

But before diving into the new additions, let’s first review how the original five ETFs performed in 2024.

As of December 19, 2024 (year-to-date and excluding dividends), all five ETFs delivered positive returns. However, given the S&P 500's strong performance this year, simply posting positive returns isn't necessarily impressive. Three of the ETFs failed to achieve double-digit returns. Only two managed to deliver more than 12%—and even these underperformed the S&P 500, which returned over 20%.

The underperformance can be attributed to the nature of this year’s rally, which was heavily concentrated among AI-related stocks. While the broader market didn’t perform as well, the index was skewed by the dominance of big AI players such as Nvidia. This created the illusion that U.S. stocks as a whole were thriving when, in reality, the gains were largely concentrated in a few key players.

That said, it’s important to remember that a single year isn’t enough to judge an ETF’s long-term potential. Looking at the past five years, a portfolio of these five ETFs would have outperformed the S&P 500 in most years. Some years, like 2024, saw underperformance, but this is part and parcel of investing—no strategy beats the index every single year. I remain confident that these ETFs, with their sound investment strategies and timeless principles, will outperform in future years.

The four new ETFs, however, have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past two years. While some are relatively new (making longer backtesting difficult), two of them delivered returns exceeding 35% year-to-date in 2024! Let’s explore them one by one, in the order I first wrote about them this year.

#1 Siren DIVCON Leaders Dividend ETF (LEAD)

I introduced this ETF on April 2, 2024. Year-to-date, it has delivered 12.28%, making it the lowest returning ETF among the four new additions. However, it still outperformed many dividend-focused strategies.

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