Do index funds ever go down?
All investments carry risk. An index fund, like anything else, can potentially lose value over time. That being said, most mainstream index funds are generally considered a conservative way to invest in equities (although there are lesser-known index funds that are thought to carry greater risk).
In the example of a stock index fund, each company would have to fail before investors lost everything. That said, depending on its focus, an index fund could underperform and lose money for several years if, say, a sector or investment region fell out of favour.
While they offer advantages like lower risk through diversification and long-term solid returns, index funds are also subject to market swings and lack the flexibility of active management.
Ideally, you should stay invested in equity index funds for the long run, i.e., at least 7 years. That is because investing in any equity instrument for the short-term is fraught with risks. And as we saw, the chances of getting positive returns improve when you give time to your investments.
To be sure, if you have the time, knowledge, and desire to create a portfolio of individual stocks, by all means, go for it. But even if you do own individual stocks, index funds can form a solid base for your portfolio. Index funds offer investors of all skill levels a simple, successful way to invest.
Although any index fund comes with risk of loss, like all investments, some funds may have a real possibility of losing a significant portion of investment capital. Leveraged funds and funds that invest in derivative products have a higher-than-average chance to produce suboptimal returns.
The bottom line is that even billionaires recognize the wealth-creation potential of low-cost index funds. Even if you're an active investor in individual stocks -- like Buffett and Dalio are -- rock-solid index funds like these four can help form an excellent backbone for your portfolio.
Disadvantages include the lack of downside protection, no choice in index composition, and it cannot beat the market (by definition).
Your time horizon: If you have a long-term investment horizon (at least 10 years), then investing all of your savings into one stock market index fund can be a good strategy.
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.
What if I invested $1000 in S&P 500 10 years ago?
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2014 would be worth $5,971.20, or a gain of 497.12%, as of February 5, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases. Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 178.17% and gold's return of 55.50% over the same time frame.
According to Standard and Poor's, the average annualized return of the S&P index, which later became the S&P 500, from 1926 to 2020 was 10%. 1 At 10%, you could double your initial investment every seven years (72 divided by 10).
If a fund consistently underperforms over multiple periods and fails to deliver satisfactory returns, consider exiting the investment.
While indexes may be low cost and diversified, they prevent seizing opportunities elsewhere. Moreover, indexes do not provide protection from market corrections and crashes when an investor has a lot of exposure to stock index funds.
Therefore, the fund option with the highest expected return over the long run is going to be an index fund. You'll outperform 92% of active fund managers. That's because index funds offer the lowest cost of participation, the core factor dragging down returns, as Bogle put it.
ETFs may close due to lack of investor interest or poor returns. For investors, the easiest way to exit an ETF investment is to sell it on the open market. Liquidation of ETFs is strictly regulated; when an ETF closes, any remaining shareholders will receive a payout based on what they had invested in the ETF.
While index funds are free from the fund manager bias, they are still vulnerable to the risk of tracking error. It is the extent to which the index fund does not track the index. Tracking error may occur in an index fund due to liquidity provisions, index constituent changes, corporate actions etc.
Each fund also owns the individual securities (stocks and bonds, for example) that make up the fund, and there's no way for a fund to go bankrupt unless every security simultaneously loses all value (an event that would reach far beyond Vanguard if it were to occur).
For beginners, the vast array of index funds options can be overwhelming. We recommend Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) (minimum investment: $1; expense Ratio: 0.03%); Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ) (minimum investment: NA; expense Ratio: 0.2%); and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA).
In 2020, Buffett said that “for most people, the best thing to do is to own the S&P 500 index fund, adding “People will try to sell you other things because there's more money in it for them if they do.” This no-frills investment strategy is one of the best for ensuring long-term, low-cost gains.
What is Warren Buffett investing in?
| Company name & symbol | Percent change in share count over quarter | Value of investment at end of quarter |
|---|---|---|
| Sirius XM (SIRI) | 316% | $220,129,000 |
| Chevron Corp. (CVX) | 14% | $18,808,080,000 |
| Occidental Petroleum (OXY) | 9% | $14,552,270,000 |
Warren Buffett has attained legendary status in the investment world, thanks to the incredible returns he has racked up over the past nearly-60 years at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) . Buffett has generated average annual returns of 22%, doubling the S&P 500, since he got started in 1965, according to Yahoo Finance.
Some index funds provide exposure to thousands of securities in a single fund, which helps lower your overall risk through broad diversification. By investing in several index funds tracking different indexes you can built a portfolio that matches your desired asset allocation.
Yes, it can make sense to invest in multiple index funds as part of a diversified investment portfolio. Diversification is an important investment strategy that can help reduce overall risk and increase potential returns.
Index funds are recommended to investors with an investment horizon of 7 years or more. It has been observed that these funds experience fluctuations in the short-term but it averages out over a longer term. With an investment window of at least seven years, you can expect to earn returns in the range of 10-12%.
