Where to invest right now One evergreen investment option is an S&P 500 index fund like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO). Pandemic-era business closures pushed lawmakers to spend trillions of dollars on stimulus programs, while forcing the Federal Reserve kept interest rates near historic lows to prevent the economy from capsizing. As a result, inflation soared to its highest level in four decades as the effects of the pandemic faded, prompting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at their fastest pace since the early 1980s.