Maya’s Roth is open. Now she has to buy something in it, and the search box shows thousands of tickers. Every episode we say “an S&P 500 index fund.” Here’s what that actually is, and the seven funds we use on this channel.
What is an ETF?
An ETF, an exchange-traded fund, is a basket of investments you buy with one ticker. One share of VOO gets you a slice of 500 of the biggest U.S. companies. You buy and sell it like a stock, and you pay a small yearly fee called the expense ratio.
Meet the seven
| Fund | What it holds | Yearly fee |
|---|---|---|
| VOO (and SPY) | S&P 500 | 0.03% (SPY 0.0945%, but its history goes back to 1993) |
| VTI | The whole U.S. stock market | 0.03% |
| QQQ | Nasdaq-100, heavy on big tech | 0.18% |
| SCHD | U.S. companies that pay dividends | 0.06% |
| BND | U.S. bonds | 0.03% |
| VXUS | Stocks outside the U.S. | 0.05% |
| AIQ | Artificial intelligence theme, since 2018 | 0.68% |
AIQ’s fee is more than 20 times VOO’s.
Run it
In the QWOS ETF Growth Calculator, $500 a month for 10 years, if the next 10 years repeated each fund’s last 10:
| Fund | Trailing 10-year return | $500 a month for 10 years |
|---|---|---|
| VOO | 15.29% | about $132,000 |
| QQQ | 20.91% | about $178,000 |
| BND | 1.13% | about $63,000 |
She put in $60,000.
The Honest Check: the last 10 years were unusual
VOO returned 15.29% a year over the last 10 years. But SPY, the same index, has averaged 10.82% a year since 1993. And bonds returned just 1.13% a year over the last 10. That’s why our projections use 8% and check them at 6%. Past returns are not a promise.
One job each
- VOO or VTI: the core
- QQQ: extra growth, with bigger swings
- SCHD: income
- BND: calmer money for later
- VXUS: not betting everything on one country
- AIQ: our cautionary tale. A hot theme, a high fee and a short track record
These are examples, not recommendations.
Next up: what a fraction of a percent really costs over 30 years. The fee that eats your retirement.
How the math works
Returns are each sponsor’s published annualized returns at NAV, as of September 30, 2026, as shown in the QWOS ETF Growth Calculator below. The calculator assumes that return every year, compounded monthly at the equivalent monthly rate, with deposits at the end of each month.
Education, not financial advice. Funds named are examples, not recommendations. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Sources: Global X: AIQ · Vanguard fee cuts, Feb 2025 · Advisor Perspectives: QQQ fee to 0.18% · ETF Database: SCHD