Lesson 5 of 8

What Is an Index Fund?

Own 500 companies in one click

1 share of SPY== 500 companiesweighted by size

S&P 500

Top 500

US companies

NASDAQ-100

Top 100

tech-heavy

Dow Jones

30 stocks

blue chips

loading SPY...

S&P 500 (SPY) over 5 years. This is "the market."

Instead of picking stocks, you buy the whole market. The fund automatically rebalances as companies change.

the data

Over any 15-year period, ~90% of professional fund managers fail to beat the S&P 500. You almost certainly can't either. And that's fine.

Check yourself

What does the S&P 500 represent?

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