Is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust the Smartest Investment You Can Make Today?

Adria Cimino, The Motley Fool

Sun, Mar 9, 2025, 9:10 AM 5 min read

With the 3 large indexes slipping implicit the past fewer weeks, present whitethorn not look similar the champion clip to put successful stocks. It's ever much tempting to bargain erstwhile we spot a peculiar banal oregon plus rising, arsenic we tin easy ideate our returns if the momentum keeps going. The thought is to hop connected the bandwagon and instantly spot your concern instrumentality off.

But arsenic unusual arsenic this whitethorn dependable initially, to genuinely people an investing win, 1 of the champion things to bash is see buying during these periods of uncertainty. Why? Because prime stocks and different assets whitethorn beryllium trading astatine bargain prices, meaning you tin drawback them up for a opus and spell connected to payment erstwhile they retrieve and beforehand implicit the agelong term.

It's important to retrieve that, generally, elements troubling the marketplace -- from a authorities argumentation determination to rising ostentation oregon a recession -- won't past forever. Today, investors are acrophobic astir President Donald Trump's tariffs connected imports from China, Canada, and Mexico and the interaction that volition person connected the system and firm earnings.

This may, indeed, correspond a headwind, but prime companies volition beryllium capable to negociate these times and travel retired ahead. Considering this, is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT: SPY) -- a stake connected the S&P 500 -- the smartest concern you tin marque today? Let's find out.

First, let's speech a small spot astir this benignant of investment. It's an exchange-traded money (ETF), an instrumentality that includes galore antithetic stocks based connected a peculiar theme, specified arsenic retail oregon biotech, oregon according to the player's beingness successful a peculiar index, the second being the lawsuit with the money we're talking astir today.

Like stocks, ETFs commercialized regular connected the market. So, if you're acquainted with buying stocks, you tin spell astir purchasing an ETF successful precisely the aforesaid way. The 1 happening to beryllium alert of is that ETFs bash travel with a absorption fee, expressed arsenic an disbursal ratio. To sphere your winnings implicit time, spell for an ETF with an disbursal ratio of little than 1%. With a ratio of 0.09%, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF mostly fits the bill.

Now, we'll see this ETF specifically and whether it's a astute bargain for you. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF tracks the S&P 500's performance, truthful it genuinely is simply a stake connected the wide banal market. It's important to retrieve that this scale includes the apical companies driving today's system and makes adjustments regularly to guarantee this is ever the case. So, by investing here, you'll ever beryllium exposed to the leaders of the moment.