Here's a little sizzling fun fact for your Friday after-work drinks. There is now more than $102 billion invested in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Australia, with almost half of that amount ($46 billion) invested over the past 12 months alone.

For some perspective, that's bigger than the GDP of nearly 130 countries (according to the International Monetary Fund), like Luxembourg, Guatemala, Bulgaria, Ghana, Croatia, Iceland, the Maldives and Fiji, to name a few.

It's safe to say then that ETFs are well and truly on their way to world domination - with investors young and old using the investment vehicles for index-like returns, active management, and various exposures to exciting thematics.

To help distinguish the steak from the sizzle, Livewire's Bella Kidman is joined by Shaw and Partners' Adam Dawes and VFS Group's James Whelan for their thoughts on two core ETFs, as well as four satellites with upside potential.

NB This episode was filmed on 31 March 2021.