The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that while mutual funds are a bedrock investing product for the masses, exchange-traded funds are coming on strong. The Globe's Rob Carrick writes that the most recent ETF industry report from TD Securities notes that the mutual-fund industry is bleeding assets while the ETF sector continues to grow. In the first half of this year, ETFs were the sole driver of growth in the broad fund industry. The big exception is balanced funds. There are still vastly more assets in balanced mutual funds than balanced ETFs, which makes no sense from a practical investing point of view. Mr. Carrick says that if you own balanced mutual funds, it is time to see if they are doing the job for you. ETF investors have been pouring money into bond and equity funds, but balanced funds account for only 4 per cent of total ETF assets, while balanced funds account for 45 per cent of mutual-fund assets. If your balanced mutual funds have delivered consistently competitive returns when measured against competing ETFs, then you are fine. The fee advantage for ETFs is strong, though. TD said that on average, investors pay 1.31 per cent for balanced mutual funds and 0.58 per cent for balanced ETFs.