Paying attention to basic information can lead to informed financial decisions.
While Warren Buffett ended his time as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway putting up a tremendous track record identifying individual companies to buy, his advice for the majority of investors is quite simple. He suggests buying an index fund that tracks the performance of the S&P 500.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO 1.24%) is a top choice. Before you add this exchange-traded fund (ETF) to your portfolio, here are three things you must know.
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1. Know what you own
This ETF owns shares of 500 or so large and profitable companies, all trading on U.S. exchanges. Investors will basically be betting on the success of the American economy, which has been a smart move historically.
But not all 500-odd stocks in the portfolio are held in equal positions. The biggest companies on the market have…
