Can you answer a couple questions about S&P 500 Index Funds?

Question

Hey guys i heard the s and p 500 index fund is a low risk, low fee investment. How much could i expect to make in interest annually? 10%? Higher? Lower? And how and where do i buy them? And how much do they cost? One chunck of money or monthly deposits into it? Both? Any help on this subject of index funds would be awesome. Lookning for a long term investment, is this the one or mutual funds better? Or Roth ira?

Answer 1

An index fund IS a mutual fund - either a standard one or an ETF.  It tracks the index, so will yield slightly less than that index (due to fund expenses).  The index will be up some years and down others, but over the long term, the return has always been good.

You can hold such a fund in a regular (taxable) acccount or in an IRA.

Answer 2

Index funds are not low risk investments but they certainly are low cost investments and as such index investors will beat actively managed mutual fund investors over time.

You obviously don't know enough about investing in general.  You need to start with the basics.  Subscribe to Money magazine.  Read Barron's occasionally.  Go to the library and get some books.