VOO tracks the S&P 500, holding essentially the same index as SPY but at a 0.03% expense ratio — a third of SPY's 0.09%. For long-term holding, VOO is the more cost-efficient choice unless liquidity differences matter for your trading style.

With a 1.04% dividend yield and a 19.0% one-year return, it simply mirrors the average performance of large-cap U.S. equities. For investors who want broad U.S. market exposure via dollar-cost averaging without single-stock risk, this is about as foundational a choice as it gets.