What is a Index Funds? The last but certainly not the least important are index funds. This type of mutual fund replicates the performance of a broad market index such as the S&P 500 or Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). An investor in an index fund figures that most managers can't beat the market. An index fund merely replicates the market return and benefits investors in the form of low fees.

Index Funds vs. Actively Managed Funds

Investing in an index fund is a form of passive investing. The primary advantage to such a strategy is the lower management expense ratio on an index fund. Also, a majority of mutual funds fail to beat broad indexes, such as the S&P 500. Index funds are generally considered ideal core portfolio holdings for retirement accounts, such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) accounts.
Since the fund managers of an index fund are simply replicating the performance of a benchmark index, they do not need the services of research analysts and others that assist in the stock selection process. Actively managed funds do need to utilize a research team. In these cases, the extra costs of fund management get reflected in the fund's expense ratio, and get passed on to shareholders.