The best S&P500 index over the last few years to be in has not been the SPY. Its actually been the RSP. This is an "equal weight" etf where all elements of the SPY are equally weighted instead of being assigned different weights. If the truth be known, then the smaller components of the SPY have risen faster and further then the larger components over the last few years. Thus the RSP has been the place to be and, not the SPY, for those longer term IBD-type investors. http://stockcharts.com/charts/gallery.html?RSP The picture the RSP has shown me lately has been very bearish. If anything happens to the following companies (which make up 20% of the SPY, then the SPY will fall faster and sooner then many will want to believe: 1. Exxon 2. GE 3. Citigroup 4. MSFT 5. T 6. Bank of America 7. PG 8. Pfizer 9. AIG 10. Johnson and Johnson