Nothing comes closer to heresy in financial circles than bad-mouthing index funds.
Even managers of actively managed funds tend not to speak ill of the Vanguard 500s of the world. Index funds beat the majority of investors, institutional or otherwise, year after year, have low expenses and are based soundly on a time-proven academic theory. Well, I can keep silent and pretend nothing is amiss in my beloved fund world no longer. Indexing giant Vanguard introduced its first index fund in 1976. To understand why, a short history lesson is in order.