Pushing Index Funds A Bit Higher

摘要

VALUED FOR THEIR SIMPLICITY and rock-bottom expenses,index funds have won a place in millions of investors' portfolios.But the idea of matching rather than beating the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is hard to take for the ever-optimistic sorts.That's why companies are creating mutual funds that hew to the index idea-a stable set of stocks and low costs-and adding financial engineering,making measured bets hoping to earn higher returns.