Book description
Investing is all about common sense. Owning a diversified portfolio of
stocks and holding it for the long term is a winner's game. Trying to
beat the stock market is theoretically a zero-sum game (for every
winner, there must be a loser), but after the substantial costs of
investing are deducted, it becomes a loser's game. Common sense tells
us-and history confirms-that the simplest and most efficient investment
strategy is to buy and hold all of the nation's publicly held businesses
at very low cost. The classic index fund that owns this market portfolio
is the
only
investment that guarantees you with your fair share of stock market
returns.
To learn how to make index investing work for you, there's
no better mentor than legendary mutual fund industry veteran John C.
Bogle. Over the course of his long career, Bogle-founder of the
Vanguard Group and creator of the world's first index mutual fund-has
relied primarily on index investing to help Vanguard's clients build
substantial wealth. Now, with The Little Book of Common Sense
Investing, he wants to help you do the same.
Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, The Little
Book of Common Sense Investing will show you how to incorporate
this proven investment strategy into your portfolio. It will also
change the very way you think about investing. Successful investing is
not easy. (It requires discipline and patience.) But it is simple. For
it's all about common sense.
With The Little Book of Common Sense Investing as your guide,
you'll discover how to make investing a winner's game:
- Why business reality-dividend yields and earnings growth-is more
important than market expectations
- How to overcome the powerful impact of investment costs, taxes,
and inflation
- How the magic of compounding returns is overwhelmed by the
tyranny of compounding costs
- What expert investors and brilliant academics-from Warren
Buffett and Benjamin Graham to Paul Samuelson and Burton
Malkiel-have to say about index investing
- And much more
You'll also find warnings about investment fads and fashions,
including the recent stampede into exchange traded funds and the rise
of indexing gimmickry. The real formula for investment success is to
own the entire market, while significantly minimizing the costs of
financial intermediation. That's what index investing is all about.
And that's what this book is all about.
JOHN C. BOGLE is founder of the Vanguard Group, Inc., and
President of its Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He created
Vanguard in 1974 and served as chairman and chief executive officer
until 1996 and senior chairman until 2000. In 1999, Fortune
magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the four "Investment
Giants" of the twentieth century; in 2004, Time named him
one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people, and
Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime
Achievement Award.
JOHN C. BOGLE is founder of the Vanguard Group,
Inc., and President of its Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He
created Vanguard in 1974 and served as chairman and chief executive
officer until 1996 and senior chairman until 2000. In 1999,
Fortune magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the four
"Investment Giants" of the twentieth century; in 2004,
Time named him one of the world's 100 most powerful and
influential people, and Institutional Investor presented him with its
Lifetime Achievement Award.
