<prompt> Human: Throwaway because its humiliating that it took so long for me to figure this out.For the past two years, Ive been contributing the max to my Roth IRA. But the money has just been sitting in the settlement fund, because I didnt realize that I had to go one step further in order to actually get into an index fund. You have to buy shares! I assumed, incorrectly, since Ive heard so much about Vanguard index funds, that the money I deposited would just go there. NOT THE CASE!At least on Vanguards website, this is pretty confusing if you dont really know what youre doing. So I figured Id alert my fellow newbies. Sorry if this is actually obvious to everyone else already.  <response>: Lesson learned. Now you know! 