Five reasons why you’ll love index investing

When I first looked into investing, it was like staring across the Atlantic Ocean. All I could see was a vast, churning deep, full of danger that could swallow my wealth whole. I needed help to sail these seas. Among the competing offers I found a trusty vessel named index investing. While you can complete the journey in expensive luxury liners like actively managed funds or in a one-man skiff tossed hither and thither by your own stock picking, here are five reasons why a more modest-seeming vehicle – a portfolio of index funds – makes the most sense: 1. Index investing is simple Never invest in anything you don’t understand is a repeated mantra in personal finance. Like never crossing the road between parked cars, it’s excellent advice that’s all too easy to ignore. Happily, index investing is easy to understand, even for those with little investment experience. You use simple index tracker funds or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to construct a diversified portfolio that keeps your…