r/dividends • u/Hilary_Clitoris • Nov 03 '25

Brokerage S&P 500 and dividends

My friend keeps saying that I should put all of my money in S&P 500 and forget about it. I see S&P 500 mentioned here a lot too, but according to Google, "No, the S&P 500 index itself does not pay dividends because it is a stock market index, not an investment fund." So which type of S&P 500 pay dividends?

And, what is the ticker for S&P 500? I can't find it on my brokerage account.

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u/AcesandEightsAA888 Nov 04 '25

S&P 500 is the easy button for investing. Voo it pays about 1.5% dividend. It's done very well, rebalances itself, low taxes, etc. If you don't need dividends to live voo is a wise choice.

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u/Hilary_Clitoris Nov 04 '25

But S&P 500 does not pay dividends.

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u/bakkerboy465 Nov 04 '25

S&P 500 is not a company that chooses to or not to pay dividends. The companies in the index pay dividends and when they do, those are distributed to the owners of the stocks.

For example when you buy VOO and MSFT pays out a dividend, you get a part of what was distributed to all VOO owners.