What are your New Year’s resolutions for 2026? One of your commitments should be to take control of your financial future. An easy way to get started is to put the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO | VOO Price Prediction), a very popular exchange traded fund (ETF), in your portfolio today.
You only really need a small number of ETFs, and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is one of them. With this fund, Vanguard makes it super-simple to get broad-market exposure for the next decade without incurring substantial fees.
You could also pick out some carefully researched stocks and a handful of other ETFs to hold for 10 years or more. At the same time, you can make the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF a central component of your set-it-and-forget-it investment plan.
U.S. Stocks Win Again
The year 2025 provides a textbook example of why every portfolio should include an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 stock index. With approximately 500 large-cap U.S. stocks, the S&P 500 represents practically every famous American company.
If the S&P 500 is a consistent long-term winner, then the same thing could be said about the VOO ETF, which mirrors the S&P 500’s price movements. Along with an annual dividend yield of around 1%, you’ll get immediate portfolio diversification with an S&P 500 tracking fund such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
It’s easy to invest with confidence for 10 years or more when you’re getting exposure to gigantic, established American businesses. Just a few examples of stocks in the VOO ETF’s holdings list are Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Walmart (NYSE:WMT), and Home Depot (NYSE:HD).
And in 2025 — just like in 2023 and 2024 — the S&P 500 and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF delivered a solid year of price gains. Even after a scary drawdown in April, the VOO ETF was up 17% year-to-date as of December 26.
This just goes to show that, if your hold time is 10 years or longer, you should anticipate good returns with the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. There will be ups and downs along the way, but with exposure to so many iconic American companies, you’ll probably do well with the VOO ETF.
High Volume, Low Fees
Two features of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF make it stand apart from many other ETFs. First of all, the VOO ETF has very high trading volumes.
On any given day, you’ll see millions of VOO shares trade hands. This matters because a heavily traded fund will have a low bid-ask spread, making it less costly to buy and sell.
Speaking of “less costly,” a well-known feature of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is its rock-bottom expense ratio. To put it simply, the expense ratio is the fund’s annualized operating fees, which are automatically deducted from the stock price.
I’ve seen ETFs with annual expense ratios that go up to 0.25%, 0.5%, or even 1% or higher. A high expense ratio can significantly reduce your overall returns if you’re holding a fund for 10 years.
Believe it or not, the VOO ETF’s expense ratio is only 0.03%. That would equate to operating fees of just $0.03 or three pennies per year for every $100 invested in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
Clearly, Vanguard is giving you more for your money with the VOO ETF. Vanguard might be considered a trailblazer with this fund, as I’ve seen other fund managers introduce low-cost ETFs after Vanguard released its S&P 500 ETF.
Looking Beyond 2026 With VOO
After several solid years, chances are pretty good that the S&P 500 and the VOO ETF with perform well in 2026. Yet, you don’t have to hold the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF for just one year as it’s likely to deliver respectable returns again and again.
It would take you a while to research and pick out great stocks from the technology, industrials, energy, utilities, consumer discretionary, and other U.S. market sectors. However, with the VOO ETF, you can let the fund’s managers do all of the stock picking.
Plus, the fees are ultra-low and you’ll get a decent 1% dividend with the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. So, for a 10-year buy-and-hold portfolio plan, I encourage you to consider Vanguard’s standard-setting all-American S&P 500 fund, the VOO ETF.
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