1 Vanguard ETF I'm Telling My Kids to Buy and Hold |

I’ve had personal finance conversations with my kids, and they’re not always enthusiastic about them. I get it; finance and investing can’t hold a candle to thinking about Star Wars and video games.

But in those conversations, I’ve been reminded that everyone approaches their finances and investing differently. My kids may never be interested in buying individual stocks, and that’s perfectly fine.

However, I do want them to understand that putting their money somewhere so it can grow over time is a good idea. And there’s one fund I’ve reminded them to buy: the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO +0.78%).

Why this fund is a good option for most investors

If you, like my kids, aren’t exactly enthusiastic about buying stocks, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF makes investing easy by essentially allowing you to invest in all the stocks in the S&P 500 index (^GSPC +0.77%) at once.

This is ideal for many investors because it means you don’t have to follow trends, do extensive stock research, or shift strategies based on what’s happening with the economy. The fund gives you exposure to all sectors of the market, so if companies in the S&P 500 are doing well, in general, your portfolio is likely doing well, too.

The S&P 500 has had a historic average annual return of about 10% since 1957, and while there are no guarantees you’ll earn that in any given year — or anything at all — the track record is a good indicator of the fund’s potential.

And, if you’re like most people, you’ll do better by investing in this index fund than trying to pick stocks on your own. Consider that the average stock investor return lagged the S&P 500 by about 5 percentage points in 2023.

That doesn’t mean you can’t beat the market, but most investors’ emotions get the best of them, leading many to fearfully sell stocks when they should hold them. Owning the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF can help you avoid the emotional roller coaster.

Savers will love this part

If you’re a natural saver, like my kids, you’ll love the fact that the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF charges an industry-low annual expense ratio of just 0.03%. This means that if you have $10,000 invested in the fund, you’ll pay just $3 annually in fees.

In short, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to take advantage of one of the best Vanguard funds available. You’ll sleep well knowing that you won’t be wasting money paying expensive fees to a fund manager to oversee it.

To recap, the Vanguard S&P 500 charges a very low annual fee, gives you exposure to the entire S&P 500 index, helps you check your emotions at the door, and has a strong track record of success.

And my kids think investing isn’t interesting. Go figure.