Although many people consider index funds as a retirement vehicle when they finally get to their golden age, there isn’t a great deal of information out there that can help you to build an effective and diverse portfolio of good index funds for your future. In this article, we’ll take a look at a simple package that can help you get the most out of your money. This portfolio includes the top 5 index funds that you need to own for a long-term solution to success.

1. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index

The first and largest of the top 5 index funds you should own is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index. Taking up around 40% of your assets, this fund gives you the complete U.S. stock market for around 0.05% annually, which means that you only pay $5 a year for each $10,000 invested. The fund tracks the CRSP U.S. total market index, which includes around 3,800 stocks.

2. The Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index

The next in the top 5 index funds you should own is the Vanguard Small Cap Value Index. This should hold around 10% of your portfolio, and it invests in some of the stock market’s cheapest and smallest companies. It tracks the small cap value index in the U.S. and there’s no evidence that suggests that these stocks are going to perform better than their popular cousins. However, the fund has returned around 9.1% over the last ten years, and expenses are only around 0.09% per year.

3. The Vanguard FTSE All-World Index

If you don’t’ want to maintain your indexes within the U.S., this fund will give you access to the rest of the world’s bourses for about 20% of your assets and around 0.14% annually. This fund tracks the all-world ex-US index and invests in around 2,500 stocks from 44 countries. Around 20% of the assets from this fund are in emerging markets and have trounced foreign options over recent years, so it’s worth getting out of the US if you can.

4. Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index

It’s worth putting around 5% into the Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index, which will bring your complete investment in developing markets to around 9% of your assets when combined with the fund above. Roughly half of all of these stocks, can be found in India, China, and Taiwan. Emerging markets have performed poorly in the past five years, which is why this fund doesn’t always offer great feedback, but emerging stocks are cheap and there’s plenty of room for long-term growth.

5. Vanguard Intermediate Term Corporate Bond Index

Finally, the last 25% of your assets should be placed in this index. The risk-adjusted returns on these bonds have always offered stronger options than long-term and short-term bonds. The intermediate corporate bond tracks the Barclays Capital five year to ten-year U.S. Corporate bond index and the average rating for its credit holdings is around triple B. The fund returned about 6.8% over around five years recently, but the amounts you receive can always change.