Dear Dagen: Reader Favors S&P 500 Index Over Wilshire 5000

I love to see investors get all hot and passionate about index funds.

When writing about S&P 500 index funds, I'll invariably mention a fund based on the broader Wilshire 5000 index as an alternative. I did that very thing in a column last week about index investing, prompting a spirited dissent from reader Sean Peisert:

I would think the S&P 500 would be a better bet. You're getting some 85% to 90% of the Wilshire 5000 in the S&P 500, yet you're paying significantly fewer capital-gains taxes and transaction costs by not dealing with so many small companies. Why bother with the 5000?

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