I just noticed a Fidelity Smart Money email I received 2 days ago containing:
Not complaining, but seems like this would be against their profit interests...MONEY LIE DETECTOR
Index funds can be a low-cost, low-fuss way to start investing.
True.
An index fund is a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that aims to mimic the performance of an index, such as the S&P 500®, which btw hit a record high at closing on June 18.
Think of an index fund like a charcuterie board—lots of variety, from brie to pepperoni, just like the variety of stocks (or bonds in a bond index fund). And both work toward a goal of filling you up, whether in your stomach or in your account.
Buying shares of an index fund could yield similar results to buying all the stocks or bonds included in the index, in the same proportion held in the index (think: owning all 500ish stocks in the S&P 500®) but with a lot less legwork and for a lot less money. Why? Management fees are usually lower than actively managed funds because the index fund’s manager is replicating an existing index vs. actively picking a basket of stocks that seek to outperform a benchmark and routinely changing the fund’s composition.
If you’d like to invest in index funds, the first step is opening an investment account. It could be a retirement account, such as an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), or a nonretirement account, such as a regular brokerage account.
Interested? Learn how to invest in an index fund.
Statistics: Posted by Dufus — Wed Jun 26, 2024 7:04 pm — Replies 4 — Views 508