Three ETFs to Hit the Market in 2026 That Are Almost Like the S&P 500

• RSP reduces concentration risk. Equal weighting spreads exposure evenly across sectors and companies but may limit long-term upside.

• NLR offers a diverse nuclear game. It goes beyond uranium miners to install utilities and infrastructure, albeit at a higher cost.

• VXUS eliminates global exposure. It provides broad diversification with low costs outside of the US, helping to balance portfolios across full market cycles.

• Have You Read A New Report Shaking Up Retirement Plans? Americans answer three questions and many realize that they can retire earlier than expected.

Have You Read A New Report Shaking Up Retirement Plans? Americans answer three questions and many realize that they can retire before than expected.

It’s hard to argue with the results of the S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) study. For those unfamiliar, it compares active fund managers against their benchmarks, and often, the index comes out on top.

Over the past 15 years, 89.93% of large-cap stocks have underperformed the S&P 500. However, shorten the horizon, and that gap narrows slightly. Over a period of one year, the efficiency gradually improves up to 78.78%. Still not good odds, but it shows that effective strategies can have their moments.

Over the short term, like the year to date, the S&P 500 is likely to be beaten by broader strategies. If you want to surpass the benchmark, you have to look different from it. So far in 2026, three ETFs have done just that, according to data from Testfolio.io.

Interestingly, these ETFs are almost identical, but together, they highlight a broader shift in the market: After years of being dominated by the Magnificent Seven, investors are starting to look elsewhere for returns.

The crowded trading of mega-cap technology has made alternatives more attractive, whether that means diversifying into other countries, rebalancing to equal weighting, or betting on a particular theme. Here’s what you need to know about each.

You can think of RSP as a bridge ETF. It’s designed for investors who still want exposure to the S&P 500 and its portfolio of blue-chip companies, but without an overemphasis on big names.

In the traditional S&P 500 index, companies are measured by market capitalization. The bigger the company, the more influence it has on the index.

RSP is investigating that property. Every quarter, each of the 500 companies is reset to a weight of 0.2%, regardless of size. That has serious consequences.

For one, the sector’s exposure is changing dramatically. Tech is down from about 33% in the S&P 500 average to about 14% in the RSP. In contrast, industrials increase from about 8.5% to about 15.4%.

Concentration also drops significantly. According to ETF Central, the top 15 holdings in the S&P 500 account for about 42% of the index. For RSP, that number drops to 4.5%.

So far in 2026, that broad exposure has helped. As high valuations in mega-cap technology have come under pressure, RSP has held up better thanks to its diversification.

But there is a trade-off. The quarter balance limits how much the winners can run. Over the long term, when a small number of stocks tend to drive most of the market’s returns, that can lead to poor performance. Historically, this has always been the case.

Cost also matters. RSP charges an average fee of 0.20%. That’s about $20 a year on a $10,000 investment, which is still reasonable, but much higher than competing S&P 500 ETFs that charge as little as 0.02% to 0.03%.

Many investors try to gain exposure to nuclear energy by focusing only on uranium miners. That approach has its limits.

The universe of uranium miners is very small, usually concentrated in a few companies based in Canada, Australia, and choosing emerging markets like Kazakhstan. These businesses are highly cyclical and, in some cases, politically vulnerable such as nationalization or land expropriation.

NLR on the other hand, is not limited to catching miners. It also includes utilities and industrial companies involved in the construction, maintenance and operation of nuclear power plants, as well as nuclear power generation companies.

That diversity helps reduce reliance on any part of the nuclear energy value chain. The portfolio is still concentrated in 29 holdings, but it is heavier than a pure uranium miner ETF.

Like most themed ETFs, there are fees. NLR charges an average expense ratio of 0.56%, which is on the high side. That makes it more suitable as a target share rather than a long-term staple for most investors.

While the RSP and NLR still have some overlap with the S&P 500, the VXUS takes you to a completely different place.

It provides exposure to over 8,000 market-weighted stocks across developed and emerging markets. That means countries like Japan, the UK, and Canada on one side, and China, Taiwan, and India on the other.

If your portfolio is focused entirely on the US, you only hold about 60% of the global equity market. VXUS fills the rest. It’s also a natural complement to the S&P 500 ETF, helping to balance your portfolio during periods when US stocks are underperforming.

History provides a clear example. From 1999 to 2009, often referred to as the “lost decade,” US stocks struggled due to the dot-com crash and the global financial crisis, while international markets fared better.

Adding VXUS doesn’t guarantee outperformance, but it does reduce reliance on a single country’s stock market.

You might think that retirement is all about picking the best stocks or ETFs and saving as much as possible, but you’d be wrong. After the new retirement income report was released, wealthy Americans are rethinking their plans and realizing that even modest portfolios can be serious money machines.

Many have even learned that they can retire before than expected.

If you are considering retirement or know someone who is, take 5 minutes to learn more here.