What do I need to do in order to start investing in ETFs?

The S&P 500 is an index. An index is a like a ruler. It measures. In this case, the S&P 500 Index / ruler measures the performance of 500 largest companies in the US. You're basically trying to look at the US market with this Index.

Before you dive right into US, consider other indices for other countries or a globally diversified index.

Once you decide on the index, you decide on the ETF that you want to use to invest in that index. An ETF is basically when one company buys shares of a bunch of companies. Then they say, nah, if you buy one share of my stock, you can own a bit of all these XXX number of companies. Index ETFs are a smaller subset of ETFs in general.

If an index is like a recipe, an index ETF is a meal cooked using that recipe. There are many recipes (US, China, Global), and for each recipe, many Toms, Dicks, and Harrys have cooked their own rendition of it.

For the S&P 500, a few you can google are: VOO, IVV, SPY, CSPX. Can take a look at this article to get a better idea.

Then you need to set up a brokerage account to deposit funds and purchase shares of the ETF. I'm not an expert on brokers but you can check this comparison.

Ya sorry, the links are not my content. I lazy. Why re-invent the wheel? Other people do hard work, must make use la...​​​

There are different types of S&P 500 like SPY & VOO, both of which tracks the S&P 500.
Before you start investing, it is wise to prepare the following:

• Emergency Funds (6 months worth of income)

• Insurance covered for

• No debt (my opinion, but for others manageable debt will do)

Next, you will need a brokerage account.

I recommend Tiger Brokers & Futu Moomoo to start because of their low cost commissions.

Account opening is a simple process with these 2 brokerages, not to mention, both are incredibly fast for account creation process as compared to the likes of TD Ameritrade.

I hope this helps.