Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 91
 One of the best books written for the average 401k investor January 7, 2009
T. Arceneaux (New Orleans, LA)
Over the past year, I have read 7 of the "Little Book of common sense Investing", and this is by far, the one that makes the most sense. All of the other books describe how to pick winning stocks, value stocks, diversification, and other "tricks" to winning in the market (and by my experiences, none of them work). This book, talks about "Index Funds" that track the broad markets like the S&P 500, and how safe and economical that strategy is in the long run.
I agree 100% with the author's work, especially for the average 401k investor who doesn't have time to "play the market". Especially when you factor in the fees associated with buying and selling individual stocks, and using other Funds that have high management fees associated with them.
 Common sense in a market of deception December 13, 2008
Honest Abe (Manchester UK)
Summary (To save you time):
If you want to retire early and financially wealthy you'll go a long way to beat this book. your first investment should be this book and then the markets. John Bogel provides a clear and concise text on how to make a good (If unexciting) return.
This book is accessible, factually based, informative and small enough to read quickly. There is no heavy analysis or huge amount of brain power required.
Review:
What makes a good investing book? It always seems to be the promise of riches and excitement. Well good luck most of the exciting stock picking methods lead to bankrupcy.
What should make a good investing book? Hows about something that can actually work?
Please bear in mind at this point that if a stock picking method cannot be rationaly explained as to why it works the chances are its garabge. One method that was well explained is Value Investing. Unfortuantely these days you are up against computers that can analyse all world wide stock markets in real time - chances are you won't win.
In a market of hype about the "Latest" and "Greatest" stock picking method John Bogel has written a book based on common sense. Inevitably all investors in a market must on average gain returns equal to the market, less costs (Forget these at your peril).
In recent years Wall Street has made $400 Billion per year in those costs (Thats right they won and you lost before your money even went into stocks). Hows about keeping that money and still investing and getting a fair (Average) share of returns? Sound boring? Well the best way isn't always the most exciting.
Through humble arithmatic John Bogel convinces you of the value and sense in a low cost index tracking fund.
Each chapter finishes whith people who endorse indexing. The likes of Warren E. Buffet, Charlie Munger, Charles Schwab, etc (Who all know more about investing than I ever will) endorse indexing. Thats good enough for me.
As a quick explanation of the aritmetic (I made these numbers up, they're not from the book, but they are mathematically accurate) and why it should convince you:
Assume the stock market returns 10% per year, you have 100% portfolio turnover per year, 2% costs (Very low) and 40% taxes (which is about right in GB where I live). If you have a system to beat the markets you need a return of 10% or more as well. So 10% return + 2% costs + 40% taxes =
(10 + 2) / 0.6 = 20%. Well good luck! Your system needs to double market returns. Hint: One reason Warren Buffet is able to beat the markets is he has very low portfolio turnover (Thus avoiding many taxes).
So are there down sides to this book?
Well Yes, there always are. Inevitable John Bogel uses the Vanguard S&P 500 index tracker (From his own company) as an example. He mentions others but not very often. So it sometimes feels a little like a sales exercise in places. However never so much that it detracts from the point. And I am a cynic who is always looking to disprove (Or even disapprove) of what I read.
Also indexing doesn't offer you very much excitment. However I can counter that with I want to retire early, not late (And broke) in life knowing I had fun in the markets.
Lastly I haven't read all the books out there and there may well be better for me yet to discover. As far as I personally have read this book tops the list though.
Resummary:
Not exciting but so well worth the money, unlike most of the garbage out there. As for most stock picking methods please remember you are taking on the best and brightest on Wall Street and their computers. They still lost huge regularly (In recent years lets all remember 2000-1, 2003, 2007-8, each time we witnessed in the region of a 40% crash in the markets). If they fail why can you or I do better? I'll stick to boredom and a fair return.
As a final endorsement of what John Bogel writes about, when companies make investments that they have to all but guarantee returns on (Pensions etc), they invest in the manner described in this book. They just don't advertise it, but if you want a good safe return guess what...
A Clear, Concise Argument for Index Funds December 3, 2008
monkuboy (Temple City, CA United States)
So as not to leave anyone in suspense, according to the author the "only way to guarantee your fair share of stock market returns" as it says in the title of the book is to invest in index funds that mirror the broad market, such as an S&P 500 fund. Plain and simple.
Basically, Mr. Bogle lays out his argument for that viewpoint in several relatively short, easy-to-understand chapters that each focus on a separate aspect as to why index funds are the vehicle of choice for the long term investor. He provides the reader with supporting historical data, information about fees, income tax effects, quotes from other respected investors, etc., to build a strong case for index funds. The effect of what you may think are slight differences in fund fees and charges from one fund to another over time are quite shocking.
Overall, this is a well-written, organized, intelligent book that is also thankfully concise, and I thought it was well worth reading. I can see there is a lot of wisdom for sticking with index funds for the long run.
A good book on investing October 20, 2008
William D. Tompkins (New York, New York USA)
An excellent book on investing. Straightforward form people whom know what they are talking about. And quoting from other good references as well.
Simple and effective September 18, 2008
J. Renaut (Washington, DC)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As others have mentioned, this book could be distilled down to "The only way to succeed at long term investing is to buy low-fee mutual funds that track the whole stock market". The entire rest of the book is the justification, and it's pretty hard to argue with any of it. Sure, you can beat the market sometimes, but it can't last.
As a beginning investor, I found the book informative - it helps you think about stocks and the market in ways that aren't immediately obvious to the uninformed.
Showing reviews 11-15 of 91
|
