note I have no prior belief whether index funds are better or not, I simply struggle with such fanatical bias). One perplexing part that I'm still yet to understand is the fact that Bogle considers ETFs an abomination. Bogle circles around, and comes back to his themes, but exploring them in different contexts, and with different examples. That said, the book gives very clear examples of why an index fund can be generally expected to beat the alternatives, and provides an excellent argument for why this should be one of the main investment tools for everyone except die-hard gamblers. 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.

Rather than listen to their siren songs, investors – large and small – should instead read Jack Bogle’s The Little Book of Common Sense Investing . After 30 years of interest rates going lower and bonds acting favorably, interest rates can only go up and bonds will be a guaranteed way to lose money, although perhaps at a rate low enough that the investor will not notice until he or she can no longer afford the things that they were used to. With the author John Bogle being one of the key players in the field of index funds (albeit now retired), one could easily anticipate a certain unfair bias in favour of these products. This tenth anniversary edition includes updated data and new information but maintains the same long-term perspective as in its predecessor. Instead, if we choose to own the entire market by collectively investing in all the listed companies, we would be able to make a similar profit in line with the upward movement of the chosen Index.It contains just the right amount of empirical evidence in the form of statistics, graphs, and charts to be convincing, but not eye-glazingly boring. The series includes The Little Book That Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt (Wiley, 2005), ISBN 978-0-471-73306-5 and The Little Book of Value Investing by Christopher H. I'll even go one better and agree with the fundamental premise of this book, that almost everyone should have broad-based indexing as the foundation of their investment plans.

The book is also aimed at an American investor and some of the tenets praised by the author are not that relevant for someone living in a different part of the world. And maybe it'll work fine for most, even so, but the point is to get going EARLY so the compound works FOR you. The tenet of Index investing is that even if we cannot beat the market, we still do not lose our invested money (risk-free).

I've been trying to learn more about investing for quite a while, but this is the first book I've bought on the topic. In case you find yourself questioning Bogle, the end of each chapter contains a "Don't Take My Word For It" where well-known investors agree with Bogle on the chapter's topic.