<prompt> Human: I am finally getting my financial shit together and going to invest the money that has been sitting in my bank account. Two questions: I always come across PF recommending Vanguards SP 500 Index but when I went to look for it on Vanguards site, I could only find the ETF. Is that the correct place to be investing? I definitely fall under the set it and forget it category and an ETF seems to be for people who want to actively buyselltrade. Question 2, is the SP 500 better than a Target Retirement Fund?Assistant: VFINX is the mutual fund version of VOO, the SP500 ETF.Thats US large cap stocks. It would be higher variance higher highs and steeper drops than a target date fund, which is mostly US equities but with some other asset classes to reduce variance.Human: Thank you. So would it be wise to start with the SP 500 and then transition to a target date fund at some point so it becomes more conservative? I am plan to retire in about 22-25 years. Assistant: The whole point of a target retirement fund is that it auto-balances Your funding based on the year. I have a portion of my investments in a 2055 account, and so its set at something like 98 stocks right now. It will move to more conservative as it gets closer to 2055.Human: The auto balance of the target retirement is what appeals to me since I only have very basic knowledge and interest in the market. But if I were to compare it to the SP 500, sounds like the SP could be more aggressive which might be good at my age 34.  <response>: Target date funds tend to be very aggressive thirty years out, and theyll be heavily invested in the SP 500. The difference is that theyre also diversified with smallmid cap and international stocks. 