Top S&P 500 ETFs as of 2019 Q2

I have long argued that the S&P 500 is an overrated, overused stock market index benchmark, while also admitting it is still one of the best constructed and balanced benchmarks globally.  By comparison, the flagship benchmarks of Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and other countries tend to be far more lopsided with industry concentrations in banking and mining, and lacking the balance of technology and service industries the US is especially strong at.  This may be one reason why S&P 500 ETFs and S&P 500 futures and options contracts remain the largest and most liquid of almost any financial instrument on the planet, and so the S&P 500 is naturally a base on which many “smart beta” strategies and alternative weightings are based.

Here I wanted to put together a list of the top S&P 500 ETFs I could find listed in the US (so not including UCITS or HK-listed ETFs).  The list starts with the cheapest and best known passive tracker funds, and then goes up in expense ratio to ETFs tracking subsets of the index tilted towards growth, value, quality, low risk, or dividends.  I reluctantly include some of the leveraged and inverse products which readers here will know that I generally hate.  As always, do contact me or Tweet if you would like to discuss or debate the merits of different strategies based on the S&P 500 or other index.