Vanguard was the first of the big cat index funds.

Its founder and CEO, John Bogle, was one of the first to point out that mutual funds did not perform as well as index funds over time. That comment didn't win him any favors with the Wall Street crowd, but we'd like to think a few average investors bought him lunch as a thank you for saving them money.

In any case, Bogle invented the index fund industry by creating the first index funds tied to entire markets and stock market indexes. Today, Vanguard (www.vanguard.com) is still a major clearinghouse for funds and one place where you can drop by on the Interwebs to pick up some investments.