Investing gurus! Help needed with choosing Index Fund!

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: tagej
PorBleemo, have you considered a spiders? Take a peek at the here for an explanation of SPDR's (spiders). They are in fact very similar to a regular s&p 500 index fund, but spiders offer distinct advantages that may or may not make them more attractive to you as an investor. The expense ratio for SPY is only around .011% to .012% -- much less than the expense ratio of even the 'cheapest' mutual fund.....

spiders are good, but my guess is if he doesn't have enough for a 3k minimum, then he probably won't have enough to make the SPYs worth it either. Unless you get some free trades with your account, you will need to pay commission with the SPY (on both sides), this will probably cost you more than paying a higher expense ration with an index fund.

 

[StageLeft]

If you're willing to invest the time & effort you can do much better than the market.

Almost nobody can beat the market on a consistent basis (match it for that matter) - and that includes professional investors. Zemmervolt is quite right. It's a proven fact that the majority of people will do worse if they try to play the stock market than pick an index fund.

Purchasing and selling individual stocks for one's portfolio is for people who are either:

1) Of a miniscule minority of people able to actually beat the market by a small amount
or
2) People who like to feel empowered, whether or not their power is harming themselves or not - or they simply like the fun of it. Kind of like gambling. It may be fun, but you know you're losing money.