The Smartest S&P 500 ETF to Buy With $1,000 Right Now

10 hours ago 1

David Dierking, The Motley Fool

Wed, July 1, 2026 astatine 5:20 AM CDT 4 min read

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) remains 1 of the astir reliable semipermanent concern strategies. By investing successful galore of the largest and astir palmy companies successful the world, investors tin put successful the semipermanent U.S. economical maturation engine. Over the past century, the scale has an mean yearly instrumentality of astir 10%.

There are 4 large ETFs that put successful the S&P 500:

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  • Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO)

  • iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: IVV)

  • State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY)

  • State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPYM)

At a precocious level, each of them are beauteous indistinguishable. They each person ultra-low disbursal ratios and their show records are virtually identical. To find immoderate benignant of favoritism betwixt them, you truly request to excavation into the details and look nether the hood.

For galore investors, immoderate 1 of these ETFs volition do. But 1 has a precise flimsy vantage implicit the others.

Coins, bars, arrows, and "S&P 500."

Image source: Getty Images.

SPYM has the lowest full outgo

When comparing funds that way the aforesaid index, the biggest differentiator usually comes down to cost. All other being equal, the money with the lowest fees usually comes retired connected apical due to the fact that that delivers the champion full instrumentality for shareholders.

That rule ends up being the lawsuit here, too.

Data sources: ETF information sheets, ETF Action. 

The disbursal ratio is what the money issuer charges to tally the fund. The dispersed is the trading outgo incurred whenever a commercialized is made. The full outgo is simply a operation of the two.

The State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF is the astir heavy traded ETF successful the satellite and is favored by ample institutions and brokerages. But it has the highest disbursal ratio of the bunch.

The State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF could beryllium considered the lower-cost mentation built for investors looking to minimize fees.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF beryllium successful betwixt with identical 0.03% disbursal ratios.

But it's SPYM that's the low-cost leader. The 0.02% disbursal ratio gives the money a razor-thin vantage connected fees. Given that trading spreads are astir non-existent for each 4 ETFs, this money is the prime for investors who privation to instrumentality trading costs arsenic debased arsenic possible.

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