Choosing an individual stock to buy is hard -- and risky. Even when selecting from a pool of great businesses, there's a good chance that the stock you choose will underperform the market, and potentially by a wide margin.

That's an excellent reason to make exchange-traded funds (ETFs) a cornerstone of your investing strategy. These financial instruments allow you to own hundreds or thousands of stocks, delivering instant diversification with a single purchase. And you can get there without a huge cash outlay. In fact, just a few hundred dollars can get you into some great ETFs. Let's look at two of the most popular.

The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (NYSEMKT: VTI) is hugely popular with investors, whether they're seasoned professionals or are just starting off on their financial journeys. In fact, over $1.6 trillion of assets are sitting in the ETF as of late March.

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Source Fool.com