Best Index Funds
Index strategies generally don’t try to beat the market by opportunistically buying or selling securities. Rather, they invest the assets of the fund or ETF to mirror the construction of an index (such as the S&P 500), giving investors a way to gain exposure to a specific part of the markets. Index funds generally have lower relative costs compared with actively managed offerings. Here we highlight funds and ETFs that also received a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Morningstar Medalist Rating by our analysts. The Medalist Rating is a forward-looking assessment of an investment strategy. The rating is on a five-tier scale running from Gold to Negative. For passive strategies, funds and ETFs with top ratings are expected to deliver alpha that exceeds the lesser of the category median net alpha, or zero, over the long term.
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|
Name
|
Morningstar Category
|
Morningstar Rating for Funds
Overall
|
Medalist Rating
Overall
|
Adjusted Expense Ratio
|
Fee Level
Distribution
|
Total Return
5 Year
|
Total Return Rank in Category
5 Year
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAM Transformers ETF
TRFM
| Technology | — | 0.490% | — | — | — | |
| ABR Dynamic Blend Equity & Volatil Instl
ABRVX
| Long-Short Equity | 2.000% | High | 8.84% | 26 | ||
| ABR Dynamic Blend Equity & Volatil Inv
ABRTX
| Long-Short Equity | 2.250% | High | 8.56% | 29 | ||
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CLSM
| Technology | 0.490% | — | −0.31% | 97 | ||
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XGP
| Moderate Allocation | — | 0.590% | — | — | — | |
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LBYYY
| Energy Limited Partnership | — | 0.850% | — | — | — | |
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QLCS
| Large Blend | 0.440% | Low | 14.47% | 34 | ||
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| Large Blend | 0.250% | Low | 14.69% | 30 | ||
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HCLMG
| Large Blend | 1.190% | Low | 13.63% | 57 | ||
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VQCJ
| Foreign Large Blend | 0.390% | — | 7.34% | 17 | ||
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NLG
| Large Growth | 0.290% | — | 16.21% | 39 | ||
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RQYBQ
| Large Growth | 0.750% | — | 7.51% | 99 | ||
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FSJ
| Global Large-Stock Blend | — | 0.490% | — | — | — | |
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BRW
| Technology | 0.750% | — | 3.51% | 95 | ||
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PXH
| Large Value | — | — | — | — | — | |
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RFZ
| Technology | 0.600% | — | 10.82% | 72 | ||
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NSQY
| Mid-Cap Blend | 0.450% | — | 8.71% | 66 | ||
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GYG
| Technology | 0.680% | — | 5.54% | 88 | ||
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MQHNQ
| Natural Resources | — | 0.590% | — | — | — | |
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VQT
| Consumer Cyclical | 0.650% | — | 2.42% | 94 | ||
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DJVZ
| Technology | — | 0.490% | — | — | — | |
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FWBDZ
| Consumer Cyclical | 0.750% | — | — | — | ||
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BMQB
| Health | 0.680% | — | — | — | ||
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MZP
| Communications | 0.750% | — | 8.42% | 44 | ||
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BNT
| Moderate Allocation | — | 0.520% | — | — | — |