S&P 500 Question

[FloridaJim57]

Simple question: Is the S&P 500 one of the best long term (10 years or more) mutual funds you can buy? Yes, I know no one has a crystal ball, but I am sure some of you have educated opinions and they are welcome and appreciated.

 

[dmpi]

This is like saying the US dollar is the best currency in the world. It is until it isn't.

 

[Al18]

I would dollar cost average in a SP500 fund, considering we just had an all time high

 

[erkevin]

If you are interested in an S&P500 fund, consider going with an ETF or index fund as opposed to a mutual fund- much lower fees. Take a look at SPY or VOO

 

[audreyh1]

Many S&P 500 index funds are super low cost, so no concerns compared to ETFs. Fidelity, Vanguard offer extremely low cost versions. Also the Vanguard index funds are just as tax efficient as their equivalent ETFs. The Fidelity index funds only slightly less tax efficient.

The S&P500 is an index commonly used as a benchmark by mutual funds. It is a collection of mostly the largest public companies and is a large growth index. Historically it has been quite difficult to beat over very long periods of time such as decades. It also can be quite volatile.

The S&P 500 is not in itself a mutual fund, but several fund companies have created index funds that track the index very closely.

 

[TheWizard]

QQQ is also a good index ETF...

 

[Chuckanut]

You can do a lot worse than the S&P 500. IMO, you can do a little bit better with a total USA stock market index fund. But,we are splitting hairs. Just keep the fund fees as low as possible. And be long term, of course.

 

[OldShooter]

You can do a lot worse than the S&P 500. IMO, you can do a little bit better with a total USA stock market index fund. But,we are splitting hairs. Just keep the fund fees as low as possible. And be long term, of course.

+1

Read "Winning the Losers' Game" by Charles Ellis, latest edition.

 

[Texas Proud]

QQQ is also a good index ETF...

Too tech heavy for general holding...



I own some to boost my tech but it is not that much of portfolio...

 

[WhenIsItTime]

Simple question: Is the S&P 500 one of the best long term (10 years or more) mutual funds you can buy? Yes, I know no one has a crystal ball, but I am sure some of you have educated opinions and they are welcome and appreciated.

What is your definition of "best"?

 

[kgtest]

QQQ is also a good index ETF...

My ole man has made a mint on QQQ.

 

[CRLLS]

Simple question: Is the S&P 500 one of the best long term (10 years or more) mutual funds you can buy? Yes, I know no one has a crystal ball, but I am sure some of you have educated opinions and they are welcome and appreciated.

Simple answer: Yes. It is one of the best, IMO. The Dow is another. These are what are followed in TV and Radio news reports daily. If you follow these daily reports, then having them as your investments is not a bad thing.

That said, an individual's financial situation and goals should be considered in any investment choices. On a personal note, I am heavily invested in IVV, an SP500 ETF. YMMV.

 

[jollystomper]

Simple question: Is the S&P 500 one of the best long term (10 years or more) mutual funds you can buy? Yes, I know no one has a crystal ball, but I am sure some of you have educated opinions and they are welcome and appreciated.

Past performance is not indicative of future results, but you could use a tool like Portfolio Visualizer to compare the long term growth of the S&P 500 to other funds over the years to get an idea of how it compares.

For me, I started dollar cost averaging into the the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund in 1997, as my primary fund, and it was one of the best simple financial decisions I made.

 

[sengsational]

I think it's one of the best because it's continually propped up by 401k influxes. Fresh new cash coming in every pay day is like an upward breeze. Sure, as storms come through, there will be lift and sink associated with the weather, but there aren't many places with the benefit of that gentle updraft.

 

[Route246]

Regarding my experience with SPY-like investments.....

This is from my Google Sheets for VFIAX (Vanguard 500 Admiral Shares, functional equivalent of SPY-like funds) with .04% expense ratio. Not sure how well it will render, sorry in advance if you can't see it. In my case I had $1.2M DCA (dollar cost average contributions) $100K/month for 12 months beginning May 2022. The yellow line is $1.2M cash starting value (like the basis) and the red line is the value on a given day.

Notice Sept/Oct 2022 was not good for the market and the $1.2M went under water for a time being, same for Dec/Jan 2022/2023 and another little dip in Mar 2023. It also took a big dump in Sept 2023 so this is not for the faint of heart if you're watching your net worth whipsawing up and down like this.

As of late last week the $1.2M is at about $1.57M, a little over 30% gain in 21 months. I'm willing to take the risk associated with equities but this should be a lesson to anyone who is risk averse and cannot stand this type of fluctuation. In the long run this is probably going to be all good for me (I say probably because nobody can predict the future).

This graph self-populates using Google's GOOGLEFINANCE() function built into sheets. For propeller-heads interested the function looks something like this:

=INDEX((GOOGLEFINANCE("vfiax","price",A634)),2,2)

Where A634 is the Date entry I have in column A row 634 of the cell. Each cell in column A is just a date that increments every row. By the way, I'm not an Excel power user or anything like that. I'm all self-taught on Google Sheets only. I don't like using Microsoft Office at all.

 

[G-Man]

Regarding my experience with SPY-like investments.....

This is from my Google Sheets for VFIAX (Vanguard 500 Admiral Shares, functional equivalent of SPY-like funds) with .04% expense ratio. Not sure how well it will render, sorry in advance if you can't see it. In my case I had $1.2M DCA (dollar cost average contributions) $100K/month for 12 months beginning May 2022. The yellow line is $1.2M cash starting value (like the basis) and the red line is the value on a given day.

Notice Sept/Oct 2022 was not good for the market and the $1.2M went under water for a time being, same for Dec/Jan 2022/2023 and another little dip in Mar 2023. It also took a big dump in Sept 2023 so this is not for the faint of heart if you're watching your net worth whipsawing up and down like this.

As of late last week the $1.2M is at about $1.57M, a little over 30% gain in 21 months. I'm willing to take the risk associated with equities but this should be a lesson to anyone who is risk averse and cannot stand this type of fluctuation. In the long run this is probably going to be all good for me (I say probably because nobody can predict the future).

This graph self-populates using Google's GOOGLEFINANCE() function built into sheets. For propeller-heads interested the function looks something like this:

=INDEX((GOOGLEFINANCE("vfiax","price",A634)),2,2)

Where A634 is the Date entry I have in column A row 634 of the cell. Each cell in column A is just a date that increments every row. By the way, I'm not an Excel power user or anything like that. I'm all self-taught on Google Sheets only. I don't like using Microsoft Office at all.

Can you provide a copy of the Google sheet.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Simple question: Is the S&P 500 one of the best long term (10 years or more) mutual funds you can buy? Yes, I know no one has a crystal ball, but I am sure some of you have educated opinions and they are welcome and appreciated.

Simple answer to your question.

Yes.

 

[Jerry1]

Simple answer to your question.

Yes.

To add to the simple answer:

Per Warren Buffett:

"Consistently buy an S&P 500 low-cost index fund," Buffett said in 2017. "Keep buying it through thick and thin and especially through thin."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffetts-golden-advice-p-171038252.html#

 

[Koolau]

Many S&P 500 index funds are super low cost, so no concerns compared to ETFs. Fidelity, Vanguard offer extremely low cost versions. Also the Vanguard index funds are just as tax efficient as their equivalent ETFs. The Fidelity index funds only slightly less tax efficient.

The S&P500 is an index commonly used as a benchmark by mutual funds. It is a collection of mostly the largest public companies and is a large growth index. Historically it has been quite difficult to beat over very long periods of time such as decades. It also can be quite volatile.

The S&P 500 is not in itself a mutual fund, but several fund companies have created index funds that track the index very closely.

Well said. Mine is currently at Vanguard. Costs are almost inconsequential and I can see "performance" of the index just about any time of the day on TV.

 

[Route246]

Let me copy it to a burner account and I’ll share it.

 

[G-Man]

Let me copy it to a burner account and I’ll share it.

Thanks

 

[Route246]

Can you provide a copy of the Google sheet.

Please try this link: VFAIX

It should be safe. I may have to take it down if it invites too many hackers or other mischief but I think it should be OK to open it to anyone with this link. The table is near row 560 or so. This should give you enough information to do your own stuff. Note that the GOOGLEFINANCE() doesn't post every day and some days are missing (occasional weekend, holiday). When that happens I just copy the previous day's value in order to fill in the gap. Enjoy.

 

[G-Man]

Please try this link: VFAIX

It should be safe. I may have to take it down if it invites too many hackers or other mischief but I think it should be OK to open it to anyone with this link. The table is near row 560 or so. This should give you enough information to do your own stuff. Note that the GOOGLEFINANCE() doesn't post every day and some days are missing (occasional weekend, holiday). When that happens I just copy the previous day's value in order to fill in the gap. Enjoy.

Thank you.

 

[aaronc879]

An S&P 500 index fund is what I would choose for long term investing but there is no guarantee that it will be better than bonds or money market for every 10 year period. We are at or near all time highs right now which could mean a big drawback at some point. It could be barely even after 10 years or it could be up 100%+ in 10 years. None of us knows, even people who say they know do not know. I put the majority in a S&P 500 index and put the rest in a money market. When stocks are up I withdraw from them, when stocks are down I withdraw from cash(money market).

 

[Route246]

Thank you.

I see people already accessing it. Just to set your minds at ease it just shows up as "anonymous animals" in Google Docs so I cannot see your ID or any information about you.

For safety sake, I do recommend you make a copy of it and clear your link. Not that I don't trust Google's security, but......