Saving and Investments: Should you invest in the S&P 500?

Barely a week goes by without a story breaking regarding the American stock market. Whether it is politicians pontificating about how well or poorly the stock market is performing or stories about shady Wall Street stockbrokers behaving like Jordon Belfort, the American stock market is beyond doubt the most famous financial trading system in the world.

While we may hear a lot about the American stock market, the advantages of actually investing in this stock market are rarely discussed. We have to ask ourselves. Is it worth investing in the American stock market? Can an Irish person even invest in the American stock market and if so, how does one go about pumping some money into Wall Street. In today’s blog, we hope to answer some of these questions.

How do you invest money in the American Stock Market?

The easiest way to invest in the American stock market is to invest in the S&P 500. The S&P 500 or the Standard and Poor 500 is an index of the 500 largest listed companies on American stock exchanges. The S&P 500 index fund tracks the performance of these 500 companies as closely as possible. The S&P 500 index has been around for more than 60 years and is one of the most popular index funds to track. Some of the companies in this fund include Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet (Google’s holding company), Tesla, etc. Most people looking to invest in the American stock market invest in the S&P 500.

 Is it worth investing in the S&P 500?

The S&P 500 continues to offer decent returns to investors growing by 15.9% in the last 10 years. However, during the financial crisis in 2008, the S&P 500 lost a massive 38% of its value. It’s always important to remember that this is the nature of stock market investing. It’s always a case of peaks and valleys and what should be looked at is long-term growth.

Can Irish people invest in the S&P 500?

Yes, Irish people can invest in the S&P 500. Investments can be made through trading platforms or a fund manager. If you’re interested in investing in the S&P 500 please get in contact with our team here at The Financial Shop. For more information on Investments, please see our Savings and Investments page.