What’s on the Index Funds poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
A fund that holds all the constituents of an index in proportion, aiming to match its return rather than exceed it. Because it requires no research, its running costs are very low.
- An index fund charging 0.1% keeps 0.1% a year.
- An active fund charging 1% keeps ten times as much.
- Over 30 years, that difference compounds substantially.
- Most active funds underperform their index after fees.
- Accumulation units reinvest income; income units pay it out.
- Tracking error measures how closely it follows the index.
- Typical index — 0.05–0.25%
- Typical active — 0.75–1.5%
- Over 30 yrs — large gap
- 1% a year over 30 years can consume roughly a quarter of the final value.
General education, not financial advice. Fees are the one variable you control with certainty.
Questions about the Index Funds poster
- What’s on the Index Funds poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. A fund that holds all the constituents of an index in proportion, aiming to match its return rather than exceed it. Because it requires no research, its running costs are very low. An index fund charging 0.1% keeps 0.1% a year.; An active fund charging 1% keeps ten times as much.; Over 30 years, that difference compounds substantially.; Most active funds underperform their index after fees.; Accumulation units reinvest income; income units pay it out.; Tracking error measures how closely it follows the index.; Typical index — 0.05–0.25%; Typical active — 0.75–1.5%; Over 30 yrs — large gap; 1% a year over 30 years can consume roughly a quarter of the final value.. General education, not financial advice. Fees are the one variable you control with certainty.
- Who is the Index Funds poster for?
- Index Funds belongs to the Money section rather than to a school year, because money is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning investing can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Index Funds poster?
- An index fund tracks a market rather than trying to beat it. Its main advantage is cost. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Index Funds belongs on the wall where that money work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Index Funds?
- Asset Classes, Bonds and Time in the Market sit alongside Index Funds in the Money section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Asset ClassesBondsTime in the Market
- Is the Index Funds poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Index Funds downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Money section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Index Funds poster print at?
- Index Funds is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Index Funds loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Index Funds on the same wall.
Browse every Money poster, or start from the full catalogue.