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3 ETFs Could Form a Diversified Portfolio Around the S&P 500

The article highlights that SPY, which tracks the S&P 500, holds 500 stocks and represents a proxy for the overall U.S. market value.

Sunday, July 19, 2026 · Written up by our desk · ETFs

Yahoo Finance features a portfolio concept built around using exchange traded funds instead of picking and monitoring dozens of individual stocks. The piece argues that ETFs provide instant diversification because they hold baskets of stocks and trade as single units.

The article points to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, SPY, as a foundation holding 500 names in a cap weighted structure that it says covers more than 80% of the total value of the U.S. market. It also notes that Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF, VOO, is presented as doing just as well for that role.

According to the article, S&P data shows that for many periods, about three fourths of mutual funds available to U.S. investors underperform their benchmark index, and it says hedge funds perform even worse. It frames this as evidence that trying to beat the S&P 500 may be difficult, concluding that simply aiming to match long term market performance, characterized in the article as about a 10% annual average gain, may be a more realistic approach.

Latest closeS&P 500 7,533.77 ▼0.5%

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