I find ETF management fees to be as low as the cheapest mutual fund, are more convenient to buy and sell (no forms to fill) and much easier to figure out what they are investing in. Their name often makes this perfectly clear. Also there is no active manager to mess things up with his incompetence. The only thing mutual funds do better is communicating with their investors.

Erin K answered...
Until some rules are changed, ETFs are slightly limited in their ability to give you the best investments in a "sector"... ETFs are like "index" funds and must (by law) invest in every aspect of the particular sector... whereas, a mutual fund manager can pick three or four of the top companies in the sector to be almost all of the funds holdings...makes a BIG difference... and the mutual fund manager can totally avoid the shakier companies in the sector!

Hum R answered
ETFs are cheaper than mutual funds. ETFs have very low annual expenses, nearly 20 basis points or 0.2% less. As against this, actively managed mutual funds show average expenses exceeding 135 basis points (1.35%). This does not include the extra 2% - 5% as loads, 12(b)-1 marketing fees, transactions costs, and soft dollar expenses mutual funds, passed on to you but never informed, except in very fine print that nobody cares to read.

Donald B answered...
You have made a great point. Mutual funds, if I am being honest, are a rip off. The management fees are high, some have sales loads and 75% of them underperform the market. I think people listen to the talking heads on TV and recommend mutual funds thinking they are safe and always provide good returns.

I do own 2 funds, but their track records are outstanding, and they have done well for me to date. However, I do not think that is the norm.

Justin T answered
ETFs have several other advantages, such as many are optionable. Great news if you know how to use it. But, in order for ETFs to make mutual funds obsolete, there must be someone selling them. For the people who do their own research, ETFs make sense. For the general masses, they need to be persuaded to save money, so their is still a job for "financial advisors" selling mutual funds.