Look at the transaction costs and fees. If you're going to buy & hold an index fund, then your decision method is to minimize fees. Take them all into consideration -- is there a fee to withdraw & cut a check? There's lots of hidden fees. Make an excel spreadsheet and list out all the fees. If you pay 1% in fees in a year, that's a big chunk of one's expected return (probably over 10% of the average annual return of an index fund).