When it comes to investing, keeping things simple can be the right strategy for building wealth. ASX-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a very effective tool to become wealthy and become a millionaire.
I believe it's a good idea to stick with an investment strategy for the long-term. Some ASX ETFs are great options to own because of the many positives they bring.
The fund I'll refer to in this article comes from Vanguard, specifically the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS). There are a few reasons why I think it's a very effective investment and how it can help us become millionaires.
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Laid back investing
I think investing in ASX ETFs is particularly useful due to the ease of investing in them and then tracking the returns of the index they provide exposure to. It's a very easy, passive way of building wealth without needing to put in much work to benefit from share market returns.
The less time we need to devote to thinking about what to invest in, or monitoring the performance of the shares, the more time we have to earn money or enjoy life.
Some of the best investments can be the simplest ones, as we can have conviction in those picks and hold them without worrying about when to buy or sell. The VGS ETF just automatically gives us that exposure.
Significant diversification
The VGS ETF gives us the ability to invest in the global share market, capturing exposure to a wide range of countries including the US, Japan, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Italy.
It's not just investing in a few businesses from each of these countries, there's well over a thousand holdings in the portfolio. At the end of August 2025, it had 1,280 positions.
These businesses are also from a variety of sectors, which is another layer of diversification, including IT (26.7% of the portfolio), financials (16.8%), industrials (11.4%), consumer discretionary (10.4%), healthcare (9.3%), communication services (8.6%), consumer staples (5.8%), energy (3.5%), materials (3%), utilities (2.6%) and real estate (1.9%).
In a single investment, we're getting a diversification-rich ASX ETF with exposure to various areas of the global economy.
Strong businesses driving good returns
There's more to a good ASX ETF investment than just diversification of course – we want to see good returns. Making money is ultimately what investing is all about and this fund has certainly delivered some very good returns for Aussies thanks to its investments in many of the world's strongest businesses such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Apple.
Since inception, in November 2014, the fund has returned an average of 13.6%, which is an excellent rate of compounding. If someone were to invest $1,000 per month into the ASX ETF and it returned an average of 13.6%, it'd become $1 million in just under 20 years. That'd be quite a fast build-up to becoming a millionaire. There are other investment options too, though.
