*Web Novel chapter below*
How to Invest in Index Funds: A Beginner’s Guide to Effortless Wealth-Building
Investing can feel like a maze of confusing options and risky bets—especially if you’re just starting out. But there’s one strategy that cuts through the noise with its simplicity, low cost, and proven results: index fund investing. If you’re searching for a beginner-friendly way to grow your wealth over time, index funds are your golden ticket. In this guide, we’ll explain what index funds are, why they’re perfect for beginners, and how to get started today—complete with trusted platforms where you can sign up. By the end, you’ll have a clear, actionable path to launch your investment journey.
What Are Index Funds?
Imagine owning a small piece of the entire stock market without having to pick individual stocks. That’s the magic of an index fund. It’s a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) that mirrors a specific market index, like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Instead of betting on one company, you’re investing in hundreds—like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon—all at once. It’s less about chasing winners and more about riding the market’s natural growth.
Why Index Funds Are Perfect for Beginners
Index funds are the go-to choice for new investors, and here’s why:
- Instant Diversification: One fund spreads your money across hundreds of companies, so a single stock’s stumble won’t derail your progress.
- Low Fees: No need for expensive stock-picking experts—index funds keep costs down.
- Set It and Forget It: No market expertise needed. Just invest and let time do the heavy lifting.
- Proven Track Record: Studies show index funds often outperform actively managed funds, making them a reliable path to long-term wealth.
How to Start Investing in Index Funds: A 3-Step Guide
Ready to take control of your financial future? Follow these simple steps to begin your index fund journey.
Step 1: Choose a Brokerage Account
A brokerage account is your gateway to buying index funds. Think of it as your investment dashboard. Here are three top platforms perfect for beginners:
- Vanguard: The pioneer of low-cost index funds. Sign up here.
- Fidelity: Offers zero-fee index funds with no minimums. Get started.
- Charles Schwab: Known for stellar customer support. Open an account.
Pro Tip: Look for platforms with low fees, a variety of funds, and an easy-to-use interface. Most let you start with as little as $1!
Step 2: Pick the Right Index Fund
Once your account is set up, choose a fund that matches your goals:
- S&P 500 Index Funds: Tracks the 500 largest U.S. companies (e.g., Vanguard’s VOO). Perfect for broad market exposure.
- Total Stock Market Index Funds: Includes small, mid, and large-cap stocks (e.g., Schwab’s SWTSX). Maximum diversification.
- International Index Funds: Invests globally (e.g., Fidelity’s FZILX). Adds worldwide balance.
Newbie Hack: Start with an S&P 500 or total market fund for simplicity and growth potential.
Step 3: Make Your First Investment
Now, it’s time to put your money to work:
- Fund Your Account: Transfer as little as $1–$100 to get started.
- Buy Your Fund: Search for your chosen fund (e.g., VOO at Vanguard) and hit “buy.”
- Automate It: Set up automatic investments—like $50 a month—to grow your wealth effortlessly.
Quick Links:
Why Index Funds Are a Smart Choice
- Lower Risk: Diversification cushions you from single-stock disasters.
- Tax-Friendly: Fewer trades mean fewer taxable events.
- Long-Term Gains: With the market’s historical 7–10% annual return, index funds are a retirement-building powerhouse.
Risks to Keep in Mind
No investment is bulletproof. Here’s what to watch:
- Market Swings: When the market dips, so does your fund. But history shows it bounces back.
- No Big Wins: You won’t beat the market—but for most, matching it is a win.
Tips for Index Fund Success
- Invest Regularly: Use dollar-cost averaging to smooth out market highs and lows.
- Diversify Further: Add international or bond funds as your portfolio grows.
- Stay the Course: Don’t panic-sell during downturns. Long-term investors win by holding steady.
Real-Life Success Story: Sarah’s $240,000 Nest Egg
Meet Sarah, a 30-year-old teacher who invested $200 a month in an S&P 500 index fund. After 30 years, her $72,000 in contributions ballooned to over $240,000—thanks to the market’s average 7% return. No stock-picking, no stress—just consistent investing through platforms like Fidelity or Vanguard.
Start Your Investment Journey Today
Index funds are your beginner-friendly path to low-cost, reliable wealth-building. Sign up with a trusted brokerage like Vanguard, Fidelity, or Charles Schwab, pick a fund, and start with as little as $50 a month. The sooner you begin, the more time your money has to grow. Take that first step now—your future self will thank you!
When I Was Reincarnated into the World of an Ultra-Difficult Game, I Ended Up As the Sole Subordinate of the Ridiculously Strong yet Incompetent Demon Lord, Tasked with Creating a Dungeon
“Elves come quite often, don’t they?”
“Isn’t that a good thing? Even though Rey has put them through so much, the fact that they still try to invade… Normally only beastmen would do something like this… well, maybe not even them?”
Wait, are there other races besides beastmen who can handle being defeated and still be fine?
I want to ask more about that.
“Even if you’re eager, we still have the dungeon management with the elves, right? Greed won’t lead to anything good.”
“Uh… well, we don’t know if things are stable yet, but for now, let’s focus on repelling the elves in front of us.”
“The fact that your first thought is ‘repel’ is so like you, Rey. But I actually kind of like that about you.”
“Thanks.”
Pilkaya is part of the Demon King’s army too.
She understands that repelling invaders is important.
Sometimes people say we go overboard, but what we’re doing should be the correct approach.
“So, the elves, right? They’ll come.”
“But I thought they were supposed to be cautious at first. Even though we made it seem like a profitable place for them, I’m surprised they keep coming despite not getting any results.”
“Ah, I see. I wonder about that myself?”
The dwarves make sense.
We set up some appealing incentives from the start, after all.
Ores, magic stones, and Primilla ‘s homemade alcohol were quite popular, according to Karl .
As for the beastmen, they seem to be easily riled up.
Also, by defeating Id, they’re aiming to indirectly surpass him by conquering this dungeon.
For a race that values strength above all and loves to fight, the fame of accomplishing what Id couldn’t is probably more attractive than a little danger.
…Timon and Okui really couldn’t get along with their reincarnated races, huh…
Thinking about that, maybe I was lucky to reincarnate as a demon.
But anyway, it’s strange that the elves are going this far.
There isn’t anything in this dungeon worth the risk for the elves.
When I talked to Clara and the others before, they said the goal was to establish a base in the dungeon.
At that time, I thought it was just to expand their territory, but maybe there’s more to it?
“…Could it be that instead of making it a base, they’re trying to seal or destroy it because it’s more dangerous than they expected?”
“Eh~ That’s not good. I don’t want them destroying our dungeon.”
“Yeah, we need to defeat the elves more seriously then…”
“U-um…”
Just as I was thinking about creating traps or monsters that could drain their mana specifically for the elves, I was timidly interrupted.
It was Clara, the Dark Elf Queen.
She seemed apologetic, thinking she had interrupted my conversation with Pilkaya.
It doesn’t matter if she overheard us.
If it was something we didn’t want heard, we wouldn’t be having this conversation in a dungeon passageway.
So, let’s hear Clara’s opinion since she’s also an elf.
“Did you notice something?”
“Well, regarding why the elves are obsessed with the dungeon…”
“It’s what you mentioned before, about wanting to expand their territory to the dungeon, right?”
But currently, the elven dungeon isn’t very convenient.
There’s no inn or item shop yet, and it’s not particularly attractive land.
“Yes, ideally they want to make it their base. The abundance of mana is quite appealing…”
“Mana…?”
Not the experience points or items obtained from the dungeon, but mana?
I didn’t set up anything like that… Could it be the dungeon’s mana?
“…Clara, you met Fiona -sama, right?”
“Y-yes, I’ve had the honor once.”
“Which felt stronger, Fiona -sama’s mana or the dungeon’s mana?”
“W-well… I understand that the Demon Lord is an extraordinary being, but considering the mana concentration across this wide area, the dungeon’s mana is…”
It’s definitely the dungeon’s mana. No doubt about it.
A value surpassing Fiona -sama’s can’t be anything else.
I see. Although the dungeons assigned to each race aren’t directly connected to our main base in the Underworld, they’re essentially one large dungeon.
Though dispersed and diluted across a wide area, races skilled in mana like the elves might be able to roughly sense its magnitude.
“In other words, the elves are trying to use the dungeon’s mana for strengthening themselves or crafting items?”
“A-ah! We certainly aren’t considering anything like that!”
“Ah, right. Clara and the others were just exploring at first too. Let’s leave that topic for now.”
If we had continued to lure Clara and her group by allowing them to create a base, there might have been mysterious mana depletion incidents.
Good thing we got them under our control before that happened.
The dungeon’s mana is crucial for the Demon King’s army moving forward.
Thanks to it, we’re gradually establishing a system for mass-producing revival potions, and we can quickly remodel the dungeon.
In short, it’s an important resource for us – like funds.
If intruders were to take it without permission, I might have sent Ripianem to reclaim it.
“So the elves are still trying to collect the dungeon’s mana?”
“Presumably, that’s their objective. Ideally, they’d like to create a base in the dungeon and establish an environment where they can utilize the vast amount of mana.”
Then we’re still safe.
If they create a base, the mana will decrease. It’s good we realized this.
While we can continue to somewhat allow intrusions, we absolutely must prevent them from establishing a base.
Maybe I’ll place rocks in various locations and crush any base-building attempts…
“Alright, let’s do that.”
“Eh? Wh-what’s happening…?”
“It’s probably one of Rey’s episodes. Ananta. Probably your cue “
What, is that not acceptable?
But this time it’s a critical issue concerning the dungeon’s mana!
Regardless of what we do with the elves, I’m definitely going to crush any attempt to create a base.
We completely misunderstood the elves’ purpose.
What the elves seek isn’t land, but mana.
This means inviting them in like we did with other races would be detrimental to us.
◇
We can’t let our guard down.
I already understand the situation of the comrades who investigated earlier.
I fully grasp how terrifying this dungeon is.
When I think about it, it’s obvious.
After all, such a massive amount of mana that we desire is present here.
It’s no surprise that the monsters who’ve lived here for years have been strengthened by its influence.
The dark elves seemed to return from the dungeon unscathed.
Now that I think about it, they probably knew how dangerous this dungeon was and conducted investigations to avoid casualties.
That’s why their investigation didn’t progress much. It’s questionable if they even managed to deal with the Soul Eater at the entrance.
However, thanks to our comrades’ sacrifices, we’ve finally reached a point where we can break through the entrance.
We thought that simply feeding the Soul Eater corpses would create an opportunity to slip past it.
But considering that almost all of our previous comrades perished, that Soul Eater must have been extremely hungry.
Probably, it quickly devoured the bait corpses and attacked our comrades who tried to pass by.
“Teleportation magic… Just setting those coordinates caused so many casualties.”
“That’s why we need to thoroughly investigate beyond the entrance. We can’t face our fallen comrades otherwise.”
Beyond where the Soul Eater resides. In the dungeon’s first room, we teleported.
Honestly, I wanted to make this place our base and call it quits.
But obviously, we can’t bring research equipment or item manufacturing tools to a place where safety isn’t guaranteed.
“Further ahead, there were definitely paralysis poison snakes and nightmare sheep swarms…?”
“Yes, they attack as soon as you open the door. So, whatever you do, don’t open that door.”
I think you understand, but I’ll warn you just in case.
I couldn’t help but give a warning because the path beyond one of the doors was filled with terrifying monster groups.
“But further ahead is a graveyard where numerous undead appear.”
“Yes… However, there was a fork in the road before the graveyard. Fortunately, it’s a path where undead don’t appear yet, so let’s proceed that way today.”
We absolutely don’t want to approach the graveyard.
It’s impossible. Even just dealing with the sheer number of enemies would be difficult, and there are probably dangerous ones like dragon zombies that could annihilate us individually.
The mana here must be affecting the undead, causing their numbers to continuously increase.
I’ve contacted the High Council and we’re gathering holy attribute users, so until then, we shouldn’t recklessly provoke that place.
“Quietly… Be careful not to get too close.”
“Yes… If we encounter undead, we’ll retreat immediately.”
Holding our breaths, we slowly advanced.
This mentally exhausting pace accumulated fatigue rapidly, despite covering only a short distance.
“…There’s nothing here, right?”
“Y-yes… There are no monsters. Or rather, shouldn’t we be found if we were in the wrong place?”
“If that’s the case, maybe we can establish a base here?”
The first safe zone we’ve found in this ferocious dungeon.
The initial room occasionally has small monsters entering, so this is the only truly safe place.
Our weariness vanished instantly as we immediately began setting up a base.
“If we can harness the mana here… We’ll be able to counter the undead and Soul Eaters.”
“Then we won’t need to sneak around like this anymore.”
“We’ll dominate this dungeon. When that happens, we might even subjugate the monsters.”
Not just talking, but working diligently with our hands.
Gradually, we built mana collection devices, makeshift resting areas, and recovery spots utilizing the collected mana.
Finally, our hard work was paying off, albeit slightly.
Just as we let our guard down, it came crashing down upon us as if it had been waiting for this moment.
“Kyaa!”
“Run!”
With no time to worry about being noticed, we screamed and dodged.
That was close… We nearly got crushed by the falling boulder.
After confirming everyone’s safety, we sighed in relief but then realized…
“A-our base…?”
The large rock had beautifully destroyed our temporary base.
It seemed to have pierced the ceiling, revealing the familiar dungeon ceiling above.
Our makeshift beds and mana collection equipment were completely wrecked…
“Moo!! What on earth is going on?!”
