When I first started to invest, it was both exciting and overwhelming. At the time, I wanted to jump in with both feet and, well, that led to more than a few mistakes as I learned about investing and, more importantly, about myself. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) didn't exist when I began my investing journey and index funds weren't nearly as popular. But both are now big on Wall Street and new investors should use them to their advantage.

Here's one index-based ETF I think would be a strong foundation for a new investor's portfolio.

The problem with investing is that it is shockingly easy to do, even easier now than when I started out. Today you can open a brokerage account on your phone and make free trades with services like Robinhood Markets and SoFi Technologies. Online trading is ubiquitous today, but I remember when you had to actually call a broker to make a trade. If I had a free trading app in my pocket at all times when I started investing I probably would have been day trading, which is a high-risk endeavor that most investors should avoid.

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Source Fool.com