Index Fund Investments

Paper Summary:

In order to determine the value of index investments as an investment strategy, this paper weighs several important considerations. It defines index funds and lists the types of index funds that are available to the investor. It then gives a thorough list and analysis of the major advantages and disadvantages of index investing. The paper then lists the alternatives to index investing and investigates the advantages and disadvantages of these alternatives. The Efficient Market Hypothesis is explained and how this might impact the evaluation of index investing and the alternatives to index investing. It concludes this case study by giving a personal analysis of whether the writer would include index investing in his personal portfolio.

From the Paper:

"Simply put, an index fund is a mutual fund that attempts to match, with as much accuracy that is possible, the performance in a stock market index. Mutual funds have created S&P500 index funds in an attempt to copy the Standard and Poor (S&P)500 index, by buying all 500 stocks in the same percentage that they are present in the index.

"Interestingly, S&P 500 tracks the performance of large company stocks in the United States, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 index tracks the stock prices of 500 big companies, which account for close to 80 percent of the total market value all of the stocks that are traded in the United States. Index funds mirror the returns of a specific index, or a group of securities, that are considered measuring sticks of the behavior of the market as a whole. If the market increases 5% in one year, the index will also increase by close to 5% in the same specific time frame."

More papers on Index Fund Investments:

• Book Review # 118750 : "The Smartest Investment Book"
• Dissertation or Thesis # 147393 : "Social Responsibility in the Financial Market"
• Analytical Essay # 129864 : "The Efficient Market Hypothesis"

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