The no load index fund strategy of the Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund
At approximately $4.3 billion in assets, the Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX) is a low cost, medium sized, passively managed diversified index mutual fund. This mutual fund’s investment portfolio consists of large capitalization U.S. stock securities. The objective of this S&P 500 index fund is to match closely the investment results of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
This no load index fund was listed as one of the top 25 lowest cost index mutual funds in a research study. See this article, which describes this study: “Top 10 S&P 500 Index Funds“. The Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX) is a commodity Standard and Poors 500 index mutual fund that individual investors can purchase directly.
The Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund – Select Shares (SWPPX) have tended to match relatively closely the returns of the Standard and Poors Index, and have done so, in part, because of this fund’s low management expense ratio. For the most recent three-year Morningstar’s and Lipper’s relative performance ratings, this fund’s performance has been average to slightly above average for actively managed and passively managed mutual funds benchmarked against the S&P500 index.
The Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund is one of the lower cost S&P 500 Index Funds that Individual Investors Can Buy Directly.
To buy index funds, click on any of the 10 low cost, no load S&P 500 index funds below to find additional information about them. The article “Top 10 S&P 500 Index Funds” explains how this list was developed. The five letter term in parentheses is the fund’s trading symbol.
- California Investment S&P 500 Index Fund (SPFIX)
- Fidelity Spartan 500 Index Fund (FSMKX)
- Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX)
- SSga S&P 500 Index Fund (SVSPX)
- T Rowe Price Equity Index Fund 500 (PREIX)
- United Association S&P500 Index Fund (UAIIX)
- USAA S&P 500 Index Fund – Member (USSPX)
- Vanguard 500 Index Fund – Admiral (VFIAX)
- Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX)
- Vantagepoint 500 Index Fund – Stock II (VPSKX)
You should be able to go directly to most of these 10 funds and call them or download investment forms from their websites. When you shop for any investment, always pay attention to the details. Understand whether there are other restrictions, costs, and purchase conditions associated with buying any index mutual fund.
The Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX) requires a higher minimum to open an account.
Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund – Select Shares (SWPPX) can be purchased directly by an individual investor from Charles Schwab & Co, Inc. For an individual investor interested in such an index fund, Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund – Select Shares (SWPPX) are certainly one of the better index mutual fund choices in the marketplace. The problem that some investors might have is that they do not have the required minimum of $50,000 to commit to this fund. There are some solutions to this problem.
If an investor has a reason to stay within the Schwab family of mutual funds, then he or she might choose a “sister” fund, which is named the Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund – Select Shares (SWPIX). Notice that the only difference in the naming is that the fourth letter of the ticker symbol in parentheses has changed from a “P” to an “I.” However, this change does have its financial implications.
The good news is that the Schwab SWPIX only requires a $100 minimum commitment. The bad news is that the annual percentage expense ratio moves up from .19% per year to .36% per year. In other respects, the Schwab SWPPX and Schwab SWPIX index mutual funds are very similar.
Another alternative that an individual investor has is to choose a similar index mutual fund that has both a lower annual management expense ratio and a lower minimum assets requirement. See the list above.
If you purchase directly, the Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund does not require any front-end sales load charge, and you do not pay any 12b1 fees. Annual fund portfolio turnover is a proxy for hidden trading costs. With only a 3% turnover rate, fund trading expenses are probably very low.
You can find the fund family website at www.schwab.com. The customer service telephone number is 866-855-9102 (24 hours x 7 days).
Your decision on whether to purchase or to sell any investment is yours and yours alone. READ OUR WEBSITE DISCLAIMER HERE: No Load Index Funds
