The S&P 500 is the stock market's most important index, tracking the 500 largest American companies on the market. Although investing in an S&P 500 ETF has proven to be a great way to build wealth over time, there are plenty of investments that have routinely bested the index. Since VUG began trading in January 2004, it has outperformed the S&P 500 by 1,262% to 929%. The S&P 500 has had a better year and past 12 months, but here is how their returns compare across different years. VUG has outperformed the S&P 500 for 13 of the last 20 years.