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    The worst thing that can happen is that you lose money. The best thing is that you make money. How much either of those will be cannot be known.
    – Bob Baerker
    Commented Jul 21, 2021 at 16:27
  • 8
    @SeverusSnape If you put $100 in, and the fund loses half its value, you've lost $50 of your principal. (Probably a little bit more from fees, too.) It's possible for your principal to go to zero, but index funds protect you quite a bit from that; for all the stocks in the fund to go to zero, you'd be looking at a global economic armageddon.
    – ceejayoz
    Commented Jul 21, 2021 at 17:27
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    The worst thing that can happen is that you discover the fund managers were fraudulent, and none of your money was invested in anything at all. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff for example.
    – alephzero
    Commented Jul 22, 2021 at 8:15
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    @alephzero Note that Bernie Madoff's company was not a mutual fund. He was a broker-dealer, managing money for individual investors. Mutual funds are much more heavily regulated, somewhat like the difference between privately-held and publically-traded corporation.
    – Barmar
    Commented Jul 22, 2021 at 14:12
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    @ceejayoz Indeed, if a major index lost all it's value I think losing your investments would be the least of your worries.
    – Robin Salih
    Commented Jul 22, 2021 at 14:55