# Index-tracking funds may deliver more risk than investors bargained for > Source: > Published: 2026-08-25 23:00:00+00:00 # Index-tracking funds may deliver more risk than investors bargained for Concentration risk in indices is at the highest level, thanks to enthusiasm over all things AI-related INDEX-TRACKING funds are now so ubiquitous that it’s hard to imagine that when the late Jack Bogle of Vanguard rolled out the first such fund [50 years ago in 1976](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/wealth/wealth-investing/index-fund-industry-behind-one-of-the-greatest-financial-revolutions-of-the-last-50-years), the fund was ridiculed as “un-American” and a “sure path to mediocrity”. Vanguard’s first fund, the First Index Investment Trust tracking the S&P 500, is now called the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. It raised just US$11 million at its launch; today, it has a total of around US$1.7 trillion in assets. Despite the inauspicious start, indexing has helped to catapult Vanguard into the ranks of fund giants, with a total of US$12 trillion in assets, second to BlackRock. [TRENDING NOW](/pulse?ref=trending-now) Shipbuilder Penguin International wins first prime contract with Singapore Navy New Woodlands Gateway industrial hub takes shape as RTS Link nears completion Tepid investor interest a dampener on Vietnam’s strong IPO pipeline Air India seeking US$1.5 billion from owners Tata, Singapore Airlines: sources