Driverless cars

Driverless cars may be shaping up as the next big thing, but self-driving investment portfolios are already available. And they’re cheap.

Many investors in recent years have poured into exchange-traded funds, most of which passively follow indexes. But a lot of investors have insisted on taking the wheel themselves, trading ETFs like stocks and trying to outwit the market in hopes of home-run returns.

Yet instead of taking your life savings into your own hands, you can set up a simple, driverless portfolio. You can depend on it for low-cost exposure to the returns being served up by the stock and bond markets. Your self-driving portfolio may need a tune-up now and then, just like your future driverless car, but that’s about all.

My idea of a simple portfolio consists of two funds — either open-end mutual funds or ETFs — global stocks and global bonds. Why global? Because roughly half of the world’s stocks and bonds are domiciled outside of the United States. For a long-term portfolio that’s supposed to be hands-off, the broadest possible coverage is best.

Perhaps because fund companies are racing each other to carve the markets into ever-thinner slices, there are few indexed ETFs with global mandates that have attracted assets over $1 billion.