[pedrocr]

How is buying 3000+ of the worlds largest companies "putting eggs in the same basket"? Buying some bonds and real estate funds can be nice as well but the diversification benefits are usually overstated. Worldwide stocks are already incredibly diversified.

[headmelted]

I maybe should have clarified:

In this case, the basket would be equities.

And in that respect, both are plays in the same market for wildly different charging structures.

[nostalgiac]

An Index fund can refer to one of the many many different types of weighted/diverse indexes that exist.

Dumping all your money into an ASX200 Index Fund is a lot different to putting it all into Vanguards Total World Stock fund.

[pedrocr]

All the advice about simple investing is of the Total World Stock type.