Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or index. 

An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets, such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments, such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index, the weighting of each security in the index, and the appropriate time to make changes to the composition of the index. One cannot invest directly in an index.   

Index funds typically have the following characteristics: 

• Variety of investments: Index funds generally invest in the securities of a variety of companies and industries.
• Relative performance consistency: Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
• Low cost: Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity, as well as brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, to a minimum compared with actively managed funds. 

Explore our investment options.