5 Best S&P 500 Index Funds to Buy for 2026

By U.S. News & World Report
December 14, 2025 | 7:00 PM

Much has been made of S&P 500 performance being driven by a handful of Big Tech stocks, including Nvidia Corp. (ticker: NVDA), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN).

Although index concentration is at a high level, S&P 500 performance has historically been driven by a relatively small number of companies. As you’d imagine, those companies change over time. For example, in 1970, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), AT&T Inc. (T), General Motors Co. (GM), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), known simply as Exxon at the time, and an earlier iteration of the Eastman Kodak Co. (KODK) led the index.

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Naturally, S&P 500 performance ebbs and flows, but throughout market cycles, exposure to large-cap U.S. stocks has been a reliable component of diversified portfolios.

While many investors associate exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, with S&P 500 index exposure, mutual funds that you might find in 401(k) plans can also facilitate inclusion of large domestic equities.

What the S&P 500 Is, and Isn’t

S&P index funds are a key component of diversified portfolios.

However, despite the widespread moniker “the benchmark index,” investors should be aware that the index tracks one asset class: large U.S. stocks. In other words, an individual investor should be more focused on meeting longer-term goals, often retirement, rather than beating the S&P 500. So, achieving broader investment goals typically means diversification beyond the S&P 500.

“Many investors might want to stick with familiar, recently successful approaches, such as passive exposure to the S&P 500 index. However, a more diversified investment strategy could offer better risk-adjusted returns,” wrote Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit, in a January report.

She added that the S&P 500 was richly valued at the time; that continues to be the case, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 22.5. That’s above the five-year average of 20 and the 10-year average of 18.7.

Aligning With Your Investing Style

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to investing in the S&P 500.

“When comparing S&P 500 mutual funds, it’s less about finding a ‘winner’ and more about choosing the fund that fits your investing style,” says Preston D. Cherry, founder and president of Concurrent Wealth Management in Houston, and author of “Wealth in the Key of Life: Finding Your Financial Harmony.”

“Since they all track the same index, the key differences come down to things like investment minimums, tax efficiency, tracking accuracy and investor behavior,” he adds.

Here are five funds that have tracked the S&P 500 with long-term records of success:

Fund	Expense Ratio
Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX)	0.04%
Fidelity 500 Index Fund (FXAIX)	0.015%
T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 (PREIX)	0.18%
Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX)	0.02%
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)	0.03%

Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX)

Vanguard’s flagship fund is a reliable option for long-term investors, Cherry says. Its expense ratio of 0.04% stacks up favorably with ETFs, which are generally assumed to be cheaper.

“Costs are among the lowest, and it mirrors the S&P 500 closely, making it a good fit for investors who want full participation in both market ups and downs,” Cherry says.

The fund’s $3,000 minimum may be a barrier for some, he adds. “But investors who meet it benefit from Vanguard’s straightforward, disciplined approach and structure that supports patient behavior,” Cherry says.

Fidelity 500 Index Fund (FXAIX)

For investors with accounts at Fidelity, such as those whose 401(k) plans are held at the brokerage, this mutual fund is frequently a core holding.

“Fidelity is one of the largest players in the employer-sponsored retirement space, so this fund often serves as the default S&P 500 option for millions of savers,” says Emilio Cabuto, a financial planner at Verus Capital Partners in San Diego. Cabuto notes that its expense ratio of 0.015% makes this one of the cheapest S&P 500 mutual funds on the market.

“For investors who prefer simplicity and want to keep everything under one roof, whether that’s within an individual brokerage account, Roth IRA or employer-sponsored plan like a 401(k), FXAIX offers excellent long-term exposure at a very cheap cost,” Cabuto says.

[Read: 7 Best Index ETFs to Buy Now]

T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 (PREIX)

This fund has a higher expense ratio, 0.18%, than rival products. “While still relatively low compared to actively managed funds, there’s really no reason to choose it over a fund with a lower expense ratio unless it’s the only one offered in a retirement plan such as a 401(k),” says Jake Skelhorn, partner and wealth advisor at Spark Wealth Advisors in Jacksonville, Florida.

Still, there’s no denying PREIX is a long-term winner: Its 15-year annual average return is 13.9% as of Dec. 12. Its three-year annualized return is 21.1%, well above its category average.

A minimum initial investment of $2,500 may be a hurdle to some investors, although inside a 401(k), that minimum is typically waived.

Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX)

For Schwab clients, SWPPX is a solid choice, Cabuto says. “It’s the only one of the major S&P 500 mutual funds that trades without a transaction fee on the Schwab platform, making it the most cost-effective option for investors already in the ecosystem,” he says.

Cabuto adds that this fund’s expense ratio of 0.02% is extremely low, and the share price, currently around $17, makes it approachable for newer investors who like owning a higher number of shares rather than fractional units.

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)

No list of inexpensive top S&P 500 index funds would be complete without a Vanguard ETF. As is common with funds in the Vanguard family, VOO has a low expense ratio; in this case, it’s 0.03%. That low cost means investors keep more money relative to some other S&P index fund choices.

“It’s nearly costless at scale, and the ETF structure adds tax efficiency by minimizing capital gains distributions,” says Cabuto. “Because it trades intraday, VOO also offers flexibility for retirees or taxable investors who may want to sell shares strategically. It’s broadly available outside Vanguard, which is an added advantage for investors consolidating accounts.”

With a gold, four-star rating from Morningstar and $1.5 trillion in assets, it’s easy to see why this fund is one of the most popular choices for hands-off investors.

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5 Best S&P 500 Index Funds to Buy for 2026 originally appeared on usnews.com

Update 12/15/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.

Asia’s next great gourmet destination? Inside Indonesia’s fine-dining revolution

By CNN
August 11, 2026 | 5:44 AM

More than 120 years ago, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, National Geographic magazine’s first female writer, photographer and board member, chronicled her travels through colonial Indonesia in her book “Java: The Garden of the East.”She was particularly fascinated by a feast known as the rijsttafel (rice table), a multi-dish banquet that was served in the grand Hotel de Nederlanden in Batavia, as Jakarta was known then.Scidmore vividly recalled a “conglomerate mountain” of food, including bits of fish, duck, chicken, beef, omelettes and onions piled alongside steaks, salads, curries, chutneys, spices and tropical fruits.The sumptuous spread had something to satisfy everyone amongst the 100 or so guests that filled the grand dining hall — even the “squeamish folk, unseasoned tourists and well-starched Britons with a small sense of humor.”Like Scidmore, most early Western documentation of Indonesia’s flavors focused on the opulent colonial feast. Little else was known about the diverse and rich flavors found across the enormous archipelago, in spite of it being home to the fabled Spice Islands, which sparked a 16th- and 17th-century “spice rush” for cloves, nutmeg and mace by Portuguese, Dutch and British traders.In more recent decades, the world has become better acquainted with some of the beloved humble foods found in Indonesian homes and warungs (street-side eateries), with satay, nasi goreng and beef rendang among the most familiar dishes beloved by travelers.But now, there’s a rising number of contemporary chefs who are elevating the national cuisine on the global stage by reimagining its famous spices into fine-dining experiences, while sharing the sophisticated stories of Indonesian flavor through a different lens.Made up of thousands of islands dotted across two oceans, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country. It would be an understatement to say the country’s cuisine is wildly varied.As a result, “the existing understanding of Indonesian food culture is very shallow,” says William Wongso, an Indonesian culinary expert and author.Boasting an enviable array of regional ingredients and flavors, the country’s chefs have been working to educate international gourmets — and even locals — about the beauty of Indonesian cuisine.And Jakarta, its capital city, has become a breeding ground for the movement. Wongso compares it to the dining scenes in New York or Shanghai, which draw talent from all over their respective countries. “Everybody wants to come here to make a thing,” he says. “So people from different regions bring flavors and food cultures.”Some open humble warungs and serve their home cooking. A few look beyond recipes and focus on elements that make Indonesian cuisine unique for a wider audience, reinventing the whole experience.A modern, fine-dining blueprintEnter August, which opened in 2021 inside a gleaming skyscraper in Jakarta’s central business district.The duo behind the concept, Jakartan Hans Christian and Budi Cahyadi from the Indonesian island of Lombok, were definitely not the first people to promote Indonesian flavors — Christian emphasizes figures like Wongso, for example, who have been championing gastro-diplomacy abroad for decades.But August has spearheaded a new format and standard for the country’s fine-dining restaurants: a modern, Indonesia-inspired tasting menu operating at a world-class level of culinary execution and service.The industry has already noticed. August became one of the few Indonesian restaurants to achieve international recognition, placing 42nd on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 and earning accolades at The Best Chef Awards.“When I came back to Jakarta, you either had classic French fine dining or very casual bistros, mostly run by expat chefs,” says Christian, who sharpened his skills in Malaysia and the United States before returning to Jakarta in 2016.“There were no locally grown chefs doing their own thing with their own roots or interpretations. For me, August is about the pride of telling our own story … and a responsibility to not only embrace our roots, but also relearn them.”Cahyadi, with more than a decade of hospitality experience in a luxury hotel, agrees. He currently helms the front of house in August’s dining room.“In Jakarta, you either had to pick a place where the food was good but the service was lousy, or a casual place where service was bad but food was decent. When I met Hans, I knew it was time for a place where food is excellent and hospitality is delivered at the exact same time,” he says.In 2019, the two started August as a private kitchen concept before turning it into the current restaurant in 2021.Inside August’s intimate dining room — warmly lit with dark wood accents and a bright, open stainless-steel kitchen at the end of the dining room — the restaurant’s two tasting menus blend familiar Indonesian flavor profiles into completely unexpected forms.Their daikon dish is inspired by the format of Japanese agedashi tofu — silken tofu coated in starch, deep-fried until golden brown and traditionally dressed in dashi sauce.August’s version is served with a cuko sauce — a sweet and sour reduction made with tamarind and palm sugar featuring a tangy umami taste.It reminds locals of eating pempek, the Indonesian fishcake. A drizzle of andaliman pepper oil, Indonesia’s version of Sichuan peppercorns, gives the dish a unique, numbing spicy kick.Another highlight features Japanese Kimendai fish cooked by pouring hot oil over the scales until it crisps up while keeping the flesh tender. It sits in a kuah garang asem (yellow sour curry sauce) from the Central Java region.The sourness comes from a native green fruit called belimbing wuluh (or bilimbi), which looks like an oblong tomato but tastes extremely acidic, while ginger flowers provide a touch of freshness.The curry base is made from a yellow bumbu — made of aromatics such as turmeric and lemongrass. Often compared with France’s mother sauces (a group of five master sauces, such as Béchamel and Hollandaise, that are said to be the foundation of classical French cooking), Indonesian bumbu are spiced sauces that take hours to caramelize and form the base of many different dishes.Christian says that August has slowly evolved over the years, with more Indonesian flavors being incorporated into his menu as the team gains confidence and the demand grows.“In the beginning, our menu leaned more towards classic European because that was my formal training. When more international guests came, they expected more Indonesian flavor,” says Christian.Now, with half of their guests coming from overseas, the team tries to find the balance carefully without being intimidating.“Finding that balance was crucial — doing modern Indonesian cooking in a way that’s exciting for locals without just putting expensive ingredients in a traditional dish. We want to start from a product or a cooking method and create something new out of that idea,” says Christian.The founders admit that Jakarta has few fine dining concepts compared to fellow Southeast Asian cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila and Bangkok.“We knew we were a few years behind, but we are in progress to catch up. Over the years, the interest from people who want to learn and taste the flavor of Indonesia is growing,” says Christian. “For the past five to six years, we’ve been on a mission to prove people wrong.”It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just about the menus, but the operation.They were the first restaurant to impose a reservation fee for diners in Jakarta. It also took a few years to educate their diners to be punctual for the tasting menu so the table could start the menu together – an often tricky feat in Jakarta traffic.But August’s success helped set new operational benchmarks for the city, proving that local diners were ready to enjoy high-end tasting menus.In the years since, Jakarta’s fine-dining community has expanded rapidly.ESA, opened in 2023, proudly offers a menu called New Jakarta Cuisine. Kindling, which opened the following year, blends Indonesian-Chinese dishes with French technique. Selera, newly opened this year in the Keraton at the Plaza hotel, emphasizes the nation’s culinary heritage with local ingredients.Outside the capital, things are changing, too, particularly in the country’s tourist hotspots. Bali, for example, has evolved to offer more than just fine resort dining and Western restaurants catering to visitors.Locavore NXT, helmed by Dutch-Indonesian duo Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah, serves a tasting menu that highlights local ingredients. The independent concept also has a farm, laboratory and store.Meanwhile, young, local and independent concepts are slowly increasing elsewhere in the country.Overlooking the historical Prambanan Temple and Mount Merapi, Suwatu in Yogyakarta, the royal cultural heart of Java, is an upscale hillside restaurant with a menu packed with local dishes cooked by local villagers.In Bandung, both MMBS (Mari Merangkai Bunga Seroja) and Plataran Bandung serve local Sundanese cuisine, with hyper-seasonal tasting menus featuring a creative twist.Not just about the price tagAt the same time, classic Indonesian restaurants are reexamining the stories they would like to tell.For a long time, the 1945 Restaurant inside the Fairmont Jakarta has been regarded as the city’s only high-end Indonesian restaurant in a five-star hotel.Taking over as the chef de cuisine this year, Yopi Tumeru has been determined to inject fresh ideas into the 11-year-old establishment — and he was inspired by the traditional rijsttafel concept.His vision of the legendary feast isn’t only a sumptuous buffet but an educational exploration of Indonesian cuisine.“For many years, Indonesian food was presented either as home cooking, street food or part of a hotel buffet… Our Rijsttafel was designed as a culinary journey through the archipelago. We preserve the generous and communal character of the traditional experience while refining the portions, presentation and sequence,” Tumeru says.The menu includes dishes such as wagyu beef rendang, duck leg confit with sambal madura, tuna collar rica-rica (rahang tuna), tempe nachos and es teler cheesecake — all created to shine new light onto old dishes.For chefs like Tumeru, presenting Indonesian cuisine in a haute gastronomic format isn’t just about slapping on higher price tags and using expensive ingredients.They are proudly showcasing the often undervalued Indonesian cuisine — from the ingredients, the knowledge and the labor to the cultural heritage.“Rendang, for example, is not simply beef cooked in coconut milk. It requires patience, careful control of the heat, and an understanding of how the spices develop over time,” says Tumeru, who feels chefs have a responsibility to help guests appreciate that complexity.Despite giving Indonesian cuisine an upscale makeover, all of the chefs insist their roots and hearts remain with the humble, family-run warung. They encourage diners to ask for street-food tips, which might otherwise feel intimidating without a local guide.The movement isn’t about replacing affordable neighborhood joints. It’s about broadening how the world sees Indonesian food, using fine dining as a welcoming gateway into their country’s vast culinary heritage.“There is still a mindset that Indonesian food cannot be expensive — that is not true,” says Wongso.“These high-end restaurants, if they’re doing it right, they’re quite helpful in changing people’s mindsets. Indonesian food cannot be cheap. It takes immense labor and skill. A single sauce or spice paste takes hours of balancing and preparation. You can Google many things, but you can’t Google taste.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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