That’s important to be aware of because if you roll over a 401(k) to an individual retirement account (IRA) you won’t find a stable value fund offered by the brokerage where you have your IRA. The yield of the bonds held in a fund’s portfolio and the price of those bonds. All investments carry some risk, but S&P 500 index funds have been historically safe investments for the long term since the S&P 500 has always delivered positive returns over long periods.

How to choose an index fund

Afzl et al. [51] reported that among non-parametric stability statistics, S(1), S(3), S(6,) and NP(4) with a dynamic concept are superior to evaluate high-yielding and stable safflower genotypes. In another study in canola, Mortazavian and Azizinia [52] reported that for nonparametric methods, TOP, Si(1), and RK parameters were useful in detecting the stability of the genotypes. Non-parametric analysis of the phenotypic stability in chickpea genotypes showed that TOP and RK parameters are ideal measurements for identify the most stable genotypes [53]. Furthermore, Vaezi et al. [54] have highlighted the usefulness of RK, S(3), S(6), NP(2), NP(3), and NP(4) parameters in selecting high-yielding and stable barley genotypes across different diverse environments.

What can prompt a change in variable distribution (a high PSI)

Where λn and γin are the eigenvalue of the nth IPCA retained in the AMMI model and the eigenvector for the ith genotype from nth IPCA, respectively. The coefficient of variation is suggested by Francis and Kannenberg [25] as a parametric stability statistic through the combination of the coefficient of variation, mean yield, and environmental variance. Founded in 1990, the fund’s expense ratio is competitive with other providers. As research firm Morningstar notes, this is one of the cheapest S&P 500-tracking funds out there.

What Does a Stable Value Fund Own?

In the above equations, N and K are the number of environments and genotypes, respectively. Like the other S&P 500 funds on this list, this fund gives exposure to 500 of the largest U.S. companies, which make up about 75% of the U.S. stock market’s total value. NerdWallet, Inc. is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. Its articles, interactive tools and other content are provided to you for free, as self-help tools and for informational purposes only.

Get Ultra Low-Risk Growth With A Stable Value Fund

• In 2022, the fund fell more than 18%, almost identical to the S&P 500’s losses for the year.
• Several real estate investment trusts (REITs) are represented in the fund.
• Therefore, the United States is widely considered to be a politically stable country; however, this is something that has been tested significantly during the past few years.
• It is clear that the selection of genotypes for target environment(s) is affected by the GEI effect.
• So, it’s unsurprising that the SPDR S&P 500 Dividend ETF had much smaller losses than the S&P 500 in 2022 or that it underperformed compared to the S&P 500 in 2023 and the first four months of 2024.
• Two stability indices, the GGE Distance (GGED) and GGE Instability index (GGEIN), can be calculated by the GGE biplot model.
• But considering about 85% of the world’s population lives in developing countries, investors who have a long-term focus and are comfortable with volatility seriously may want to consider investing in this fund.
• Interest in AI stocks has also surged since late 2022, when ChatGPT launched.
• In this regard, if breeders are only interested in the existence of rank order differences across environments, these methods provide the best alternative to parametric models currently used.

R is identified as a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. This software is compatible with a wide variety of Windows, MacOS, and UNIX platforms. Due to this advantage, many researchers and plant breeders have been encouraged to create scripts for computing stability statistics. Until now, there have many R scripts that each enable calculation of some stability parameters. However, Olivoto and Lucio [109] developed an R package “metan” for analyzing the GEI effect in plant breeding experiments. This package enables breeders to compute the AMMI model and GGE biplot, as well as estimating several parametric and non-parametric stability statistics.

Stable distribution

These tend to be good choices because they’re well diversified and allow you to lock in the historical growth of the domestic stock market. However, higher rewards come with greater risk, and dividend payments will likely be minimal. If you want investment income, a dividend fund like the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF is a good choice.

Funding

Burbano-Erazo et al. [65] used a set of AMMI-based methods to test the stability of common bean genotypes for heat and drought environments. They reported that the ASV and YSI parameters allow selecting stable genotypes across environments. Indeed, these parameters provided a measure of stability in a dynamic sense. The propensity to model the GEI led to the development of a series of methods and approaches called “stability analyses”, the concepts of which precede even analysis of variance (ANOVA) [5].

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As a result, many people are curious about the political stability of certain countries. When we are talking about political stability, we are referring to whether a country is prone to civil unrest and whether the government is prone to being overthrown. We are also talking about countries that have a peaceful transition of power whenever an election takes place.

What Is the Most Political Stable Country?

At 0.1%, its expense ratio is relatively low, especially for a fund offering exposure to the companies with the most growth potential. Like its benchmark index, the Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF has dropped by more than 2% during the first four months of 2024, as small-cap stocks have struggled. This software is a free and user-friendly tool that was developed by the Biometrics Unit at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) [103]. Using this software, the AMMI model and some stability statistics can be computed.

ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF

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Where SSIPCA1/SSIPCA2 is the ratio between the sum of squares from the first and second interaction principal component axis, and IPCA1 and IPCA2 are the genotypic scores of these components in the AMMI model. The genotype with the lowest value of this statistic would be more stable. In addition to the typical sectors represented by a Nasdaq index fund (such as IT, consumer services and health care), FNCMX also includes the real estate and material sectors. The S&P 500 Index is the most popular measure among financial professionals, while the general public might be more familiar with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). For retirees who want to set aside a few years of living costs in cash, the stable value fund in a 401(k) might provide a higher yield than parking money in a money market mutual fund.

To appreciate how stable value funds operate, it’s useful to first review the mechanics of how bond funds perform as a bond fund is the core component of a stable value fund. While high-quality bond funds are low-risk investments that are much less volatile than stocks, there’s still no guarantee that the value of a bond fund won’t decline when interest rates rise. Perhaps turn to stable value funds, a Stable Index potential goldilocks solution that may already be available in your workplace retirement plan. Thematic investors wanting to capitalize on a long-term secular trend should check out the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO -0.54%). The index fund’s benchmark is the Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index, which tracks 77 robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) companies.

Deciphering GE Interaction Using Different Statistical Methods

Koundinya et al. [74] used the WAASB parameter to select of stable cassava genotypes under drought environments. Experiments measuring the interaction between genotypes and environments measure the spatial (e.g., locations) and temporal (e.g., years) separation and/or combination of these factors. The genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) is very important in plant breeding programs. Over the past six decades, the propensity to model the GEI led to the development of several models and mathematical methods for deciphering GEI in multi-environmental trials (METs) called “stability analyses”. However, its size is hidden by the contribution of improved management in the yield increase, and for this reason comparisons of new with old varieties in a single experiment could reveal its real size.

S&P 500 Benefits

In the static concept, a specific stable genotype has a performance that is unaffected by the environmental conditions. Furthermore, this concept is analogous to the biological concept of stability such that the yield performance of a stable genotype has an environmental variance near to zero [6]. The dynamic concept states that a stable genotype has no deviation from predictable response to environments. In other words, the performance of a stable genotype is accordance with the estimated level or the prediction for each environment. Thus, the genotypic response to environmental conditions is not equal for all genotypes.

3. GenStat Software

NerdWallet does not and cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information in regard to your individual circumstances. Examples are hypothetical, and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific investment issues. Our estimates are based on past market performance, and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. The S&P is instead a float-weighted index, meaning the market capitalizations of the companies in the index are used, but are adjusted by the number of shares available for public trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index, while the S&P 500 is a market-cap-weighted index.

This method, which is named Kang’s rank-sum (RK), uses both yield and Shukla’s stability variance (σ2i) as a selection index. This parameter gives a weight of one to both yield and stability statistics to identify high-yielding and stable genotypes. The genotype with the highest yield and lower σ2i are assigned a rank of one. Then, the ranks of yield and stability variance are added for each genotype and the genotypes with the lowest rank-sum are the most desirable.

7. STABILITYSOFT Software

Verma and Singh [67] showed that among a collection of parametric AMMI- and BLUP-based stability parameters, the superiority indices would provide reliable estimates of genotype performance. Among parametric methods, YSI and HMRPGV simultaneously provide a status of stability and productivity. Indeed, this parameter provides simultaneous selection for productivity and phenotypic stability in the context of a mixed model. Verma and Singh [67] identified the high-yielding and stable genotypes of wheat using HMRPGV parameter. Agyeman et al. [70] used the REML and BLUP model to test the stability of a set of maize genotypes in a MET trial.

• Since the rank of genotypes in the specific environments cannot be done according to the phenotypic values, the stability of test genotypes has to be estimated independently of the genotypic effect.
• Where λn and γin are the eigenvalue of the nth IPCA and the eigenvector value for the ith genotype.
• Thematic investors wanting to capitalize on a long-term secular trend should check out the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO -0.54%).
• If a country is considered politically unstable, the people who run the country are going to be more concerned about keeping themselves in power and less concerned about providing the necessary support for its people.
• As a bond fund investor, what you earn is known as the fund’s total return.
• Although the index includes a few real estate management and development companies, it consists mostly of equity REITs, which own and operate income-producing real estate.

If a country is not politically stable, it is prone to having protests, riots, and even a full-out civil war in the worst situations. The main difference between MASV and ASV is the use of all significant IPCAs in the MASV statistic. Similar to ASV, a genotype with the lowest value of MASV will be selected as the most stable. In the race for the lowest of the low-cost index funds, this Fidelity fund made news by being among the first to charge no annual expenses. That means investors can keep all their cash invested for the long run. Below, we’re looking at some of the best index funds that track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indexes.

The results obtained by this software will be graphically released [76]. Because of its methodology, very large stocks become more influential components of the index and tend to drown out or diminish the influence of this broad diversification. Our retirement system is way too confusing, and committing to saving money today that you won’t use for decades is not exactly easy either. I specialize in explaining the how and why of retirement planning so consumers can make confident choices and get on with their lives. My work has appeared in Money magazine, Consumer Reports, Bloomberg.com, CNBC.com, and The New York Times. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool’s premium services.

Volatility profiles based on trailing-three-year calculations of the standard deviation of service investment returns. More money has been lost waiting to buy stocks than in holding stocks through downturns. Suppose blue was expected, and the red was actual, on plotting the distributions of the variables, one with larger PSI will have a larger gap between actuals and expected. In addition to monitoring the scoring variable, you also want to calculate the PSI for features as well. Because if a feature with strong predictive power is prone to rapid changes, we might rethink about having those features in the model.

• This is clear that the last statistics will be less precise than W(AMMI), as is evident from the fact that they could not exploit the information in detail.
• Efforts are being made to undermine free elections in the United States by casting doubt on whether the ballots that are cast are fair.
• For instance, Zali et al. [42] used a set of AMMI-based stability statistics to identify of most stable chickpea genotypes.
• GENES is a software package used for data analysis and processing with different biometric models for genetic studies applied to plant and animal breeding.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index, while the S&P 500 is a market-cap-weighted index.
• NerdWallet, Inc. is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor.
• As a result, many people are curious about the political stability of certain countries.

We ideally want the distribution of Y on the scoring dataset to be similar to it’s distribution on the training dataset. Abnormal changes in the distribution is marked by a large value of PSI. We are dealing with the largest land war in Europe since WWII, there is a global pandemic that continues to wreak havoc on most of the world, and there are autocrats who are seeking to throw us into a new Cold War.

GENES is a software package used for data analysis and processing with different biometric models for genetic studies applied to plant and animal breeding. It allows parametric and non-parametric stability statistics to be computed and presents integration with MS Word, MS Excel and Paint. It is also compatible with the free software R and Matlab, through the supply of useful scripts available for complementary analyses in different areas [99].

This software is compatible with UNIX platforms, Windows, and MacOSX, and it provides information on both Pearson’s and Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficients among measured stability statistics. It’s this so-called insurance wrapper that enables stable value funds to deliver the higher yields of short-term bonds with the same low-risk of a money market mutual fund. Many stable value funds spread their insurance contracts among multiple insurers or banks to add an important layer of risk diversification. That way if one insurer defaults or is unable to meet its obligations, the fund overall won’t lose much, if any, money.

As another non-parametric stability statistic, Fox et al. [30] suggested an ideal and simple parameter to superiority measure of general adaptability. This method is a stratified ranking approach that includes scoring the number of test environments in which each entry ranked in the LOW (bottom), MID (middle), and TOP (top) thirds of trial entries. The genotype that occurred mostly in the top third (high top value) was considered a widely adapted cultivar. The proportion of environments at which the genotype occurred in the each of these groups was determined to form the non-parametric measures of LOW, MID, and TOP, respectively.

In other words, a large effect of the GEI results in smaller heritability; thus, progress from selection would be limited [8]. In METs, the best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) is a useful model that will provide an ideal opportunity for the estimation of heritability across various environments [12,13]. Furthermore, this model provides additional information for the test of stability, adaptability, and simultaneous stability-adaptability in METs, which will be described in the following. Pour-Aboughadareh et al. [104] developed another free and user-friendly web-based software to compute several parametric and non-parametric stability statistics.

It is clear that the selection of genotypes for target environment(s) is affected by the GEI effect. For this reason, over the three past decades, numerous statistical models and approaches have been proposed to analyze GEI as well as identify the high-yielding and most stable genotypes. This fact is not unexpected in that each stability parameter or statistic result shows a specialist ranking pattern for genotypes. Some of these models are based on the genotypic contribution to GE variance, and some are based on G + GE (e.g., univariate or multivariate). Models and/or methods based on G + GE are more repeatable if they are calculated within mega-environments because mean yield is more repeatable.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 racked up total returns of about 447% during the same decade. The ETF offers investors a way to capture the growth of several booming trends. Robotics offers huge cost savings to companies; the industry is forecast to have a compound annual growth rate of 14.1% through 2032.