Hint: Today marks its golden anniversary.

Answer: August 31, 1976 

John C. Bogle launched the first public index fund, called the First Investment Trust, which would later become the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. 

Questions:

• How is investing in an index fund different from investing in a single stock?
• Is an index fund an example of passive or active investing? Why?
• Offering index funds transformed investing. Make an inference: what is one way indexing might have changed investing?

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Vanguard): 

"Index investing was for a long time synonymous with tracking the S&P 500, “America’s index.” But as the golden anniversary of index fund investing approaches, the strategy is widely available across and within asset classes. Its appeal is evident: Indexing is an easy-to-understand, cost-effective strategy that can offer diversification, tax efficiency, and consistent performance relative to the results of the market."