Why doesn't everyone just invest in S&P 500?
It might actually lead to unwanted losses. Investors that only invest in the S&P 500 leave themselves exposed to numerous pitfalls: Investing only in the S&P 500 does not provide the broad diversification that minimizes risk. Economic downturns and bear markets can still deliver large losses.
That's because your investment gives you access to the broad stock market. Meanwhile, if you only invest in S&P 500 ETFs, you won't beat the broad market. Rather, you can expect your portfolio's performance to be in line with that of the broad market.
Financial experts generally say investing in an S&P 500 index fund is a sound strategy — though it does leave room for diversification. “It could prove an effective strategy if you hang on,” said Douglas Boneparth, a certified financial planner and president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York.
One of the main reasons is that some investors believe they can outperform the market by actively selecting individual stocks or actively managed funds. While this is possible, it is not easy, and many studies have shown that the majority of active investors fail to beat the market consistently over the long term.
Research: 89% of fund managers fail to beat the market
According to this report, 88.99% of large-cap US funds have underperformed the S&P500 index over ten years. As a whole, 78–97% of actively managed stock funds failed to beat the indexes they were benchmarked against over ten years.
Mistrust of financial markets. Humans have a very difficult time assessing and interpreting risk. Our self-bias makes many of us believe that whilst a risk may be real, there is no way it will happen to us.
The bottom line on the S&P 500
But this index does have some shortcomings. Its market-cap weightings may favor some companies, or sectors, over others; the bandwidth doesn't always reflect the entire domestic stock market, and it excludes companies that aren't based in the US.
In 1980, had you invested a mere $1,000 in what went on to become the top-performing stock of S&P 500, then you would be sitting on a cool $1.2 million today.
The index itself has a long history of earning positive returns over time and recovering from downturns. While there are never any guarantees when it comes to investing, opting for an S&P 500 index fund or ETF is about as close to guaranteed long-term returns as you can get.
Once you have $1 million in assets, you can look seriously at living entirely off the returns of a portfolio. After all, the S&P 500 alone averages 10% returns per year. Setting aside taxes and down-year investment portfolio management, a $1 million index fund could provide $100,000 annually.
Do rich people use index funds?
While working on Wall Street, Tu observed certain patterns in how wealthy clients invested their money. A common misconception is that rich people pick stocks themselves, when in fact, wealthy investors are often putting their cash in index funds, ETFs, and mutual funds, Tu told MarketWatch Picks.
Consistently buying an S&P 500 index fund over time is one of the best investment decisions you can make. Index funds are good investments for beginners because you don't need to know much about investing or financial markets to do well.
Disadvantages include the lack of downside protection, no choice in index composition, and it cannot beat the market (by definition). To index invest, find an index, find a fund tracking that index, and then find a broker to buy shares in that fund.
S&P 500 Index Versus Nasdaq 100 Performance
Nasdaq 100 has outperformed S&P by a wide margin. The average 10-year return of Nasdaq 100 over these 15 years was around 9%, while that of S&P 500 was about 5%.
U.S. Equity Research is a Morningstar five-star gold-medal fund. It has no load and charges a low, 0.45% annual fee. Year to date, it's up 18.6%, versus the S&P 500's 15.5% gain. The fund beats the broad market and its Morningstar peers on a one-, three-, and five-year annualized basis.
Common Reasons People Avoid Investing
Savings accounts pay you interest—but not a lot. The average savings account interest rate is only . 01%, and the best rates out there hover around 1.7%. But, with the current inflation rate at 0.6%, all that money you've socked away in savings is actually losing money.
Those with irregular and/or unknown paychecks by amount and/or interval can't invest the money. By investing their funds, they could put themselves at risk because they don't have enough liquidity. Additionally, they might not be able to invest because they barely have enough at the end of every month to scrape by.
Investing in an S&P 500 fund can instantly diversify your portfolio and is generally considered less risky. S&P 500 index funds or ETFs will track the performance of the S&P 500, which means when the S&P 500 does well, your investment will, too. (The opposite is also true, of course.)
In conclusion, while the S&P 500 is currently trading at all-time highs, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad time to invest in stocks. By maintaining a diversified portfolio and seeking professional guidance, you can navigate the complexities of the market and work towards achieving your financial goals.
The S&P 500 is an index that tracks the 500 largest companies in the U.S. by market capitalization. You can't directly invest in the index itself, but you can buy individual stocks of S&P 500 companies, or buy a S&P 500 index fund through a mutual fund or ETF.
What if I invested $10,000 in S&P 500 10 years ago?
Assuming an average annual return rate of about 10% (a typical historical average), a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 could potentially grow to approximately $25,937 over 10 years.
Don't discount monthly contributions
Over the past 20 years, the index has gained a total average annual return of around 10%. If you initially invested $10,000 and added $100 per month, you'd have $136,000 today. Image source: Investor.gov. For those who did the math, yes, you added $24,000 over those 20 years.
Investing $100 per month, with an average return rate of 10%, will yield $200,000 after 30 years. Due to compound interest, your investment will yield $535,000 after 40 years.
We saw in the previous section that investing in the S&P 500 has historically allowed investors to double their money about every six or seven years.
Time is your most valuable asset when it comes to the stock market. By investing now and staying invested for as long as possible, you can rest easier knowing you're likely to see positive long-term returns -- no matter what happens in the coming weeks or months. Katie Brockman has positions in Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
