And companies getting onto an index seems potentially fraught with corruption when so much money is at stake. Is there a publicized algorithm that determines which companies get into an index or are palms greased?
That said, I mostly invest in indexes even though I have concerns. I've just done much better over the years with index investing than investing in single stocks. Diversification is maximized in index investing.
the S&P 500 index is hand picked (by some committee iirc) at S&P.
But there's only 1 type of index fund - the total market, cap-weighted index fund - that's worth investing in as a passive investor. Not any specific index that excludes some stocks while including others.
That said, I mostly invest in indexes even though I have concerns. I've just done much better over the years with index investing than investing in single stocks. Diversification is maximized in index investing.