The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
Library · Investing
- Author: John C. Bogle
- FinSimLab rating: 5/5
- Reading: Easy
- Finance level: Beginner
- Published: 2007
The Vanguard founder's case for index funds and against high fees.
What it covers
Bogle shows with numbers how fees and portfolio turnover eat into returns year after year, and why a fund that tracks the whole market tends to beat most actively managed funds. It is short and to the point.
What you will learn
- How much fees can take away over several decades.
- Why the average investor earns less than the fund they invest in.
- How an index fund works.
Who it is for
New investors who want to understand why index funds are so often recommended.
Concepts
Index investing, Fees, Long term
What you will not learn
How to build a full portfolio by age, or the detail of European ETFs and their tax treatment.
Already read a book on this?
- It shares index investing and the weight of fees with A Random Walk Down Wall Street. If you have read A Random Walk Down Wall Street, this one mainly adds the case on fees with numbers, in a few pages. A Random Walk Down Wall Street
- It shares long-term index funds with The Simple Path to Wealth. If you have read The Simple Path to Wealth, this one mainly adds why costs matter, with data. The Simple Path to Wealth
We suggest you continue with
Related Academy guides
- ETF vs Index Fund: What's the Difference and Which Should You Buy?
- What is an ETF and how to invest in one
- What is compound interest and how does it grow your money?
Put it into practice
More investing books
- The Intelligent Investor
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street
- The Simple Path to Wealth
- One Up On Wall Street
- Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
- The Little Book That Beats the Market
- The Most Important Thing
- The Little Book of Valuation
Descriptions written by FinSimLab for educational purposes. They do not summarise the books and are not investment advice.