Even folks new to investing have probably heard someone mention index funds. But what are they and how do they work? This article explores index funds in detail to help you understand how they work, ...

S&P 500 index funds like VFIAX and SWPPX can be an easy and inexpensive way to round out most investment portfolios. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising ...

Today’s column addresses three questions. First, to what extent do the portfolios of index funds behave differently from benchmarks that they emulate? That is, before expenses are considered, how ...

Stock market indices such as the FTSE 100 of leading UK company shares, or the S&P 500 in the US, are a vital component of the investing landscape. They act as financial barometers that reflect the ...

Index funds, goes the theory, are the best option because they charge so little and produce the best long-term investment ...

In 1976, Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, created the first index fund to provide a low-cost investing method that valued the investor's interest over the company's. Index funds track the ...

Annuities may seem complex, largely due to the fact that there are a variety of product types and options. On one side of the spectrum lie high-fee, high-risk, high-potential-gain variable annuities, ...

When you buy shares in an index fund — which is a selection of assets that track a certain index — you get the diversification of all those different stocks, right? Kind of. With the rise in ...