Exchange traded funds have become an accepted part of the financial services universe of products. The number of ETFs has now hit 1,100, up 100 percent roughly over four years. Last year, a record 217 ETFs were launched. In January and February, 36 new ETFs hit the market. Hundreds more remain in the pipeline, notes CNBC. FocusShares, which closed its funds in the wake of the financial crisis, has come to life, recently launching 15 ETFs at competitive prices.

So are we rapidly heading toward the day when we have more ETFs than stocks? It seems that way. We hit that point a while ago with mutual funds, of course.

The value to investors of newer ETFs has been an issue of late. Like mutual funds, there are some ETFs that simply do not survive the Darwinian competition. They are selected for extinction, so to speak. "The Claymore/Robb Report Global Luxury Index ETF, which launched in 2008, was shuttered in 2010--along with 48 other casualties," notes CNBC. "And this March, 105 ETFs were on the ETF Database death watch, including 24 from the leading ETF provider iShares. The average ETF fund on the list had only $8.9 million in assets."

But you can still feel the entrepreneurial fever.  And you get the sense that financial advisors are jumping on the bandwagon with even more enthusiasm than individual customers. This trend has not yet crested.

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