Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
Ranked 5 of 11 index funds by recommenders
Recommended as a simple way to own 500 large US companies and keep adding over time. Critics say it is not very diversified compared with funds like VT.
Recommended as a simple way to own 500 large US companies and keep adding over time. Critics say it is not very diversified compared with funds like VT.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Holding for the long term
“if you buy stock responsibly (for example, DCA VOO/&QQQ), there's a high chance you'll eventually bounce back”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “After Losses, Retail Investors Flock to 3x Leverage as 2x Product Are Restricted” “wouldn't the better strategy be to just keep adding to VOO?”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “'This is sell America' – US dollar tumbles as globe flees US assets” “the best investment for any individual is VOO held forever”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “Jack Bogle would hate what Vanguard has become” Funded retirement and college
“That strategy is on track to put two kids through college.”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Anthropic S-1” “has allowed a lot of people to retire early”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “US Job Market Visualizer – Andrej Karpathy” Preferred over riskier options
“concluded VOO is better for my risk-adjusted ROI outlook and time horizon”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “Danish pension fund excludes SpaceX citing governance and valuation” “while going with the tried&true makes some sense”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Can the stockmarket swallow Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI?”
Other index funds people recommend
The four most recommended other index funds, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 index fund | 28 | 13 | 68% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Invesco QQQ Trust | 11 | 10 | 52% | 7 | — | — |
| Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 11 | 4 | 73% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 10 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETFThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“That strategy is on track to put two kids through college.”
“VOO is not really diversified compared to funds like VT”
“if you buy stock responsibly (for example, DCA VOO/&QQQ), there's a high chance you'll eventually bounce back”
“while going with the tried&true makes some sense”
“that excludes these new rushed IPOs that are just exit liquidity”
“concluded VOO is better for my risk-adjusted ROI outlook and time horizon”
“If you buys a SP500 ETF you're effectively buying 500 stocks.”
“the best investment for any individual is VOO held forever”
“has allowed a lot of people to retire early”
“wouldn't the better strategy be to just keep adding to VOO?”
“If you want to average 50% towards mortgage 50% VOO (S&P Index fund)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.