Jack Bogle (1929–2019)

Reading this book is like eating a plate of vegetables⁠—your (financial) health will benefit for years to come if you commit to it, but the journey getting there is going to be a boring one.

That being said, this approach to investing is what I've been seeking out ever since I became interested in personal finance. The smoke and mirrors horse race that is the daily financial market is of little interest to me mostly because it appears to be almost entirely noise (and increasingly more show more evidently fraught with corruption).

The advice found in The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is the proverbial tortoise racing against the hare, the hare being the more active investor. Slow and steady wins 99.9% of the time, but in the least exciting way possible. Pick what you value. show less

There are few books that I come back to time and again for inspiration, yet this is one of them. I should have known that this would be the case based on the prologue, where Tom Peters says that he does the very same thing.

The value of this book comes from its sensible, straightforward recommendations that are phrased in "too much... not enough" format. While these recommendations at first seem vague, they are followed by perspectives that clarify the problems that they respond to, and how show more the shift in thinking keeps corruption at bay. This is a book about values, because what we value leads to actions.

Throughout, the author's genuine joy for life and passion for his work comes through like a song. He has reaped tremendous rewards from his work, and he is deeply grateful while still acknowledging those that made it possible. He also clearly remains connected to the society he is a part of, and cares for people still growing up (his work in cheap index funds only strengthens this case). Not a bad example for other billionaires.

The title is connected to a wonderful anecdote about Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut. Do not miss this!

RIP, John C Bogle! show less

If you're investing in the stock market, you should start with this book. Hands down. It compares the long term performance of index investing to managed or mutual fund investing. The statistics and studies are compelling. Over 20-30 years, there is no comparison to index investing. It wins 100%.

If I was building a book list as a curriculum to learn investing, this would be first on the list. It's underlying principle is all about the power of compounding. In fact, the third last page sums show more this principle up wonderfully. I quote, "I am 85 years old and have never earned more than $25,000 a year. I started investing in 1974 with $500 (55YO). I have only bought - never sold. I remember when things were not going well, your advice was, 'stay the course.' (Author) He enclosed a list of his investments at the start of 2004: Total value, $1,391, 407".

Based on the studies in this book, it's alarming how over 10+ years, 90-something percent of managed funds underperform the broad stock market indices; In this case, the S&P500. This occurs for a variety of reasons, too many to discuss here, but still, the stats are black and white in favour of index investing. The book's case is that passive investing beats active investing easily over 20+ years, especially when factoring in brokerage and management costs.

An interesting point also from the book is the author's principle of asset allocation. Here, he advocats an investor direct 90% of their spare income (after living expenses) to passive index funds with the remaining 5-10% used for funny-money to speculate on other direct investment. Thinking about it, he has a very valid point. If an investment technique or strategy can significantly beat the market, then a 5-10% asset allocation will quickly catch and outperform the 90% passive allocation. If it can't, then just stick with the 90% passive index investing for the long term. Simple really.
This book is bundled with studies and statistics that shouldn't be ignored. show less

This is the first of several books on investing that I plan to read to better educate myself and take greater personal control of my finances. If John Bogle had his way, it would probably be my last. That is because his investment strategy is rather simple. He thinks most investors should pick a very low-cost index fund, his pick would be the S & P 500 or a total market fund, both of which are near identical. He advises you to purchase this as early as you can and then hold onto it for as show more long as you can, basically until you retire. With this simple strategy, he argues you will capture most of the growth of the total market, which is better than the vast majority of investors who believe they can beat the market through timing, stock picking, having talented money managers, or some other strategy. This value strategy may be a bit boring, but he makes a strong argument, through pure math and statistics, that it is sound. If you're really into cryptocurrency, poker, trying to figure out what company or sector will be the hottest, or other high stakes and exciting gambles, you won't necessarily gravitate to this kind of investing. It's just too plain vanilla and dull and won't give you the returns to turn on your adrenaline. On the other hand, this slow and steady approach to wealth-building might just be the advice that you should follow. show less