At the 2025 Future Proof Festival in Southern California, the buzz around exchange-traded funds was impossible to miss. Advisors and asset managers alike were discussing how far ETFs have come—and how active managers are now shaping the next phase of growth. Among the firms leading the charge is MFS Investment Management, the 100-year-old investment manager best known for pioneering the mutual fund.
Today, MFS continues to evolve, bringing its active management experience into modern ETF wrappers while maintaining its core focus on research-driven investing. Jim Adams, Managing Director–Global Platforms at MFS, sat down with The Wealth Advisor to discuss how the firm is bringing that legacy into the modern ETF era—and why advisors should take notice.
Reintroducing a Storied Name
MFS traces its roots back to 1924, when it launched what is widely recognized as the first open-end mutual fund. Since then, the firm has grown into a global presence with roughly $650 billion in assets under management across equities, fixed income, and international strategies, as of August 2025.
Despite its long history, many advisors—particularly in the independent RIA channel—are encountering the firm for the first time. “We are in an interesting spot because we’re reintroducing ourselves to these people that have never met us, but we’ve been around a long time as an active, long-only manager,” Adams says.
The reintroduction has come at a moment when advisors are examining the value of active management. In volatile markets, the ability to know what you own, and why, is especially important. “There’s a lot of angst in the marketplace, understanding what you bought, where you bought it, who you bought, the stocks, the bonds—that’s what we do,” he explains. “That’s really our claim to fame, doing that fundamental bottom-up research.”
The MFS Difference
Unlike firms that have diversified into private markets, hedge funds, or alternatives, MFS remains focused on public markets. Its model is deliberately straightforward: build high-conviction portfolios based on deep research from the ground up.
“It’s having the different vehicles that people want,” Adams says. “They want mutual funds, they want ETFs, they want SMAs. So, we provide all those different vehicles, but as a fundamental long-only research global manager.”
The firm supports that philosophy with global reach. MFS operates nine research offices worldwide, enabling analysts and portfolio managers to meet companies where they operate. “You need to have that ability to understand those companies in real time in their language, understanding their cultures, understanding why they’re making certain decisions,” Adams notes. “So, we want to have that expertise on the ground in those different countries.”
For advisors, that commitment translates to investment decisions informed by context—not just data.
Entering the ETF Arena
While MFS is synonymous with mutual funds, it has been deliberate in entering the ETF market. In response to demand, the firm launched its first five actively managed ETFs in December 2024, followed by the MFS® Active Mid Cap ETF (ticker: MMID) in September 2025—bringing its active ETF lineup to six funds. As of September 30, 2025, the funds had $900+ million in combined assets.
These initial active ETFs span core equity and fixed income strategies:
- MFS® Active Value ETF (ticker: MFSV)—Large-cap, attractively valued companies with an emphasis on downside risk mitigation.
- MFS® Active Growth ETF (ticker: MFSG)—High-quality growth businesses with durable competitive advantages.
- MFS® Active International ETF (ticker: MFSI)—A global equity strategy outside the U.S., focusing on quality and growth-at-a-reasonable-price.
- MFS® Active Core Plus Bond ETF (ticker: MFSB)—An investment-grade-bond strategy with macro, bottom-up, and technical inputs.
- MFS® Active Intermediate Muni Bond ETF ticker: MFSM)—Designed to capture inefficiencies in municipal markets with a disciplined credit process.
The newest addition, MMID, expands client choice and provides access to MFS’s proven capabilities in active investing through a US midcap core equity strategy. The fund seeks capital appreciation by investing across growth and value companies in the midcap space, leveraging MFS’s focus on business quality, free cash flow generation, and rigorous valuation discipline. Portfolio Manager Kevin Schmitz, who has 23 years of experience at MFS and 30 years in the industry, leads the strategy with a focus on identifying high-quality, durable businesses with above-average growth potential.
Each of the six funds brings MFS’s long-standing research process into the ETF wrapper, with full daily transparency and liquidity. Advisors gain access to strategies already proven in mutual fund form, now offered in vehicles that meet the growing demand for tax efficiency and intraday tradability. “We’re going to launch a lot more because our partners and our clients are asking for them,” Adams says.
Partnership as a Guiding Principle
MFS’s careful entry into ETFs reflects its broader philosophy of patience and alignment with advisors. Rather than racing competitors to market, the firm prioritizes feedback from intermediaries and custodians.
“It’s understanding, listening to what people want, what they need, and then going back, thinking about it,” Adams says. “Don’t just launch any kind of product. Take the time, ascertain what the market wants, what the clients want. Is it good for the shareholder, the actual end client? Is it good for our partners? And then is it good for MFS? And if we can do all of that, then here we go—we launch.”
Whether in stock selection or product design, the firm prizes patience and long-term outcomes. “You can’t rush it,” adds Adams. “If you have a long-term horizon in most clients coming into advisors, they’re not building a one-year retirement plan. They’re building a 20-, 30-year retirement plan. This stuff has to work for the long term. Let’s take the time, let’s put the effort in up-front, launch the right products with the right pricing, with the right demand and need. And then you have some success.”
Protecting Clients—and Advisors
At the heart of MFS’s approach is a simple truth: clients’ money represents more than capital—it represents their futures. For Adams, that responsibility shapes how products are designed and how performance is measured over time. “That’s why we launch products. At the end of the day, what we really think about is: this is not our money, it’s not the advisor’s money—it’s the client’s money,” he says. “It’s their hopes and dreams, and we want to make sure that it does what it’s supposed to do, what we said it would do. And then at the same point, it protects the advisor’s reputation.”
That mindset is especially relevant for advisors navigating an environment where product proliferation can be overwhelming. MFS seeks to simplify, offering strategies that advisors can rely on over multi-decade horizons without the need for constant tactical shifts.
What’s Next for MFS ETFs
The firm’s initial ETF lineup reflects five core categories, but Adams points out that more are on the way. Many of MFS’s long-running mutual fund strategies will eventually be brought into the ETF suite, broadening advisors’ options.
“We’ll have a lot more of our established products that we have on the shelf as mutual funds. We’ll bring them out as ETFs later this year and into next year,” he says.
With more than 75 mutual funds already in place, the firm isn’t chasing volume. It plans to expand selectively, keeping focus on strategies where advisor demand is clear.
Why It Matters for Advisors
For financial advisors, MFS’s ETF entry offers three clear advantages:
- Proven Process, New Vehicle—Advisors can access MFS’s century-old research discipline in a liquid, transparent ETF format.
- Partnership Mindset—MFS engages with intermediaries thoughtfully, launching strategies based on need rather than trend.
- Long-Term Alignment—The firm designs portfolios with 20- to 30-year horizons in mind, mirroring the timeframes of most client goals.
Advisors seeking differentiated active strategies can now consider MFS alongside established ETF players, confident that the same research-first culture guides its approach.
A Century of Evolution
The MFS move into ETFs represents an evolution not a reinvention. From pioneering the mutual fund to expanding globally, the firm has adapted to serve investors where they are. Today, that means offering ETFs without compromising on the fundamentals that define its identity.
The firm’s purpose is ultimately about trust: products must do what they promise both for the sake of performance and to uphold both clients’ futures and advisors’ reputations. That ethos may explain why, after more than a century in asset management, MFS continues to stand out—not just as a historic name but as a forward-looking partner for the next generation of advisors.
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Additional Resources
- Contact MFS Investment Management
- MFS Active ETFs
- MMID Product Profile
- MFS Advisor Edge®
- Meet the Team
