When the market is near all-time highs, it is easy to think the smart move is to sit tight and wait for a pullback. The problem is that waiting rarely pays off. Markets tend to surprise to the upside, and history shows they often never revisit those levels again.
JPMorgan found that since 1950, the S&P 500 has hit new highs on about 7% of trading days, and nearly a third of those times it never traded lower after that point. In other words, waiting for a pullback that never comes can cost you.
That is where dollar-cost averaging comes in. By steadily buying, you take out all the guesswork and stop worrying about trying to time the market correctly, and just let compounding do the heavy lifting. The key is to stay consistent and invest your money in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with strong long-term track records.
ETFs that track popular market stock market indexes are a great place to start, and Vanguard has long been the gold standard for low-cost, high-quality index funds. Index funds take out human emotion, which when it comes to investing can be a good thing.
Meanwhile, investors can start buying these ETFs with as little as $100. The key is that you'll want to continue steadily investing over time to build wealth. Even investing just $100 twice a month can lead to over $1 million after 30 years with a mid-teens annual return.
Let's look at two Vanguard ETFs that can potentially get you those kinds of returns.
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Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO +0.56%) is as close to a one-stop shop as you can get. The fund tracks the S&P 500 index, which gives you instant exposure to about 500 of the largest U.S. companies.
The index is dominated by tech leaders like Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms, which together account for nearly a third of the fund. These companies have been the biggest winners over the past decade, and by owning the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, you automatically own them without having to make individual stock calls.
What makes this ETF so powerful is how it adapts over time. The index continually reshuffles to lean into the winners, and that natural evolution has fueled strong long-term returns. Over the past 10 years, the fund has averaged annual gains in the mid-teens, which includes both bull and bear markets.
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Costs, meanwhile, are rock-bottom at 0.03%, which means almost all the index's return stays in your pocket. If you want a simple, dependable investment to help build wealth, this ETF checks every box. It will not shoot the lights out, but it will do exactly what it is supposed to do: deliver steady growth, adapt with the market, and give you confidence to keep buying no matter what the headlines say.
Vanguard Growth ETF
If you want more firepower in your portfolio, the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG +0.83%) is the way to go. It focuses on large-cap growth stocks with strong sales and earnings momentum, which tilts the portfolio even more heavily toward technology names. Think of it as the growth side of the S&P 500.
The fund holds about 160 stocks, but the top names carry more weight than in the S&P 500. Nvidia, for instance, is a much larger position here, reflecting its massive growth story. That technology bent has been a tailwind for investors, with the ETF posting annualized gains north of 17% over the past decade.
The trade-off is less diversification, but the payoff has been outsize performance. If you're a big believer that artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to drive the market, this is an ETF you want to own.
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Similar to the Vanguard 500 ETFs, costs stay low, coming in at just 0.04%. That makes the Vanguard Growth ETF one of the cheapest ways to own the market's top growth stocks without betting on any single company. For investors willing to keep putting money in regularly, these two ETFs can anchor a portfolio for decades. You don't need to overthink it; you just need to consistently invest over time.
