The S&P for peanuts
By SHAILA DANI
You might be paying too much for your Standard & Poor’s 500 index fund. There are more than 200 funds that aim to mimic the returns of the benchmark market index. Because they do the same thing, you might expect them to charge about the same. But annual costs on each $1,000 invested can range from 90 cents to $23. That adds up over time. The funds on this list include exchange-traded funds, which trade all day long like stocks, as well as mutual funds. They all require minimum initial investments of $10,000 or less and have negligible differences in returns. These six funds are the cheapest ways to invest in the S&P 500, according to Morningstar. “All things being equal, the cheapest index fund is the best index fund,” says Dan Culloton, associate director of fund analysis for Morningstar.
Associated Press
