If you stop the average investor walking down the street and ask him what a large-cap stock is, he might respond Apple, Alphabet, Amazon.com, or maybe Bank of America. However, most investors would probably struggle to name a mid-cap stock, even though names like Burlington Stores, Tractor Supply, and Whirlpool may be familiar to them. Mid-cap stocks are often overlooked, and yet, over the past 15 years, they have outperformed both large- and small-cap stocks. There is no structural reason to justify this, nor is there a reason to believe it will continue. However, mid-cap stocks warrant more attention than they currently garner.Mid-Caps: The Big PictureAs their name implies, mid-cap stocks fall in the middle of the market-capitalization spectrum between large- and small-cap stocks. These companies may have graduate… Full Story

Diversification is one of the most powerful tools an investor has to manage risk. Yet, when it comes to their U.S. equity allocations, investors are often underexposed to mid-cap stocks. Low-cost indexing is a powerful way for investors to gain access to this segment of the market, and Schwab U.S. Mid-Cap ETF is an outstanding fund in this asset class. As one of the cheapest and most broadly diversified market-cap-weighted funds in the category, it earns a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold.This fund tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Mid Cap Total Stock Market Index, which offers broad, market-cap-weighted exposure to U.S. mid-cap stocks. The resulting portfolio accurately represents the composition of the U.S. mid-cap market segment. Its sector exposures are similar to the mid-cap blend Morningstar Category average, as is its market-cap orien… Full Story