1 Tech ETF to Buy Hand Over Fist and 1 to Avoid in 2026

The piece recommends the Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQM) as the preferred tech-heavy vehicle heading into 2026, noting it tracks the Nasdaq-100, carries a lower expense ratio (0.15% vs QQQ’s 0.20%), and offers diversified exposure to major AI, cloud and hardware names—tech comprises ~65% of the fund with consumer discretionary, healthcare, telecom and industrials making up the rest. By contrast, the author advises avoiding the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) despite its strong past performance because of concentrated risk—Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft account for over 45% of VGT—and because VGT omits large tech-fringe names such as Amazon, Alphabet and Meta due to sector classifications, making it a higher single-stock/sector concentration bet.

Analysis

The article recommends the Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQM) as a preferred vehicle into 2026, noting it tracks the Nasdaq-100 (largest 100 non-financial Nasdaq stocks), launched in 2020, and carries a 0.15% expense ratio versus 0.20% for QQQ. The fund is tech-heavy (approximately 65%) but also includes consumer discretionary (17.6%), healthcare (4.9%), telecommunications (3.5%) and industrials (3.2%), offering multi-industry exposure within a single ETF.

QQQM provides exposure to leading AI and cloud hardware and software names cited in the piece — Nvidia, Broadcom, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Palantir, Shopify and CrowdStrike — which the author frames as diversification across tech subthemes while retaining large-cap leadership. The lower fee differential (0.05 percentage point) is presented as meaningful for long-term investors, potentially compounding into materially lower lifetime costs versus QQQ.

By contrast, Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) is flagged as the ETF to avoid due to concentration risk: Nvidia (18.2%), Apple (14.3%) and Microsoft (12.9%) together exceed 45% of VGT. The article also highlights that VGT excludes Amazon, Alphabet and Meta because of sector classifications, creating higher single-stock and sector-concentration exposure despite VGT’s stronger historical returns.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Consider using QQQM as a core long-term tech exposure due to its 0.15% expense ratio and broader Nasdaq-100 inclusion,
• Avoid making VGT a primary core position given Nvidia/Apple/Microsoft >45% concentration and the fund’s exclusion of Amazon, Alphabet and Meta,
• If you hold VGT, size it as a satellite or hedge single-stock concentration risk and monitor top-10 weights regularly,
• Prioritize fee savings for buy-and-hold allocations—0.05% annual difference versus QQQ can compound materially over multi‑year horizons