I’ve been alive for nearly 37 years, and for as long as I can remember the investing world has revolved around the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI). The Dow, as it’s more commonly known, isn’t America’s oldest index. That title goes to the Dow Jones Transportation Index, which also happened to be created by Charles Dow. Nevertheless, it was the Dow, currently featuring a complement of 30 U.S. multinational companies from a variety of industries, which grew into the widely followed index by retail investors and Wall Street bigwigs.