But you can buy spiders (symbol SPY) that follow the S&P index. If you would have purchased them 5 years ago and tried to sell them today, you would have lost money. Of course... the recent financial collapse is an oddity. I suspect that if you were to hold them for another 5 to 10 years, you would average 10 to 11 percent over the long haul.
Of course, that assumes that our economy won't completely fall apart in the mean time.
Cidi