Anyone who spends 10 minutes listening to financial media outlets has likely heard one of the following major indices: the American Dow Jones Industrial Average, UK’s The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100, or Germany’s Deutscher Aktienindex (DAX). While many are likely familiar with what an index is in principle by default of hearing news pundits talk about it on a daily basis, fewer people understand how easy, convenient, and safe it can be to buy and sell an index through a standard brokerage account.