Bogleheads

[AshKK]

I don't have any particular papers to suggest here, but have a suggestion for the organization of the library.

Take for example, the Commodities library. It lists 22 papers "in no particular order". I am amazed at the collection of papers there, and I thank the librarians for their effort in finding them and placing them all in one place.

This organization might be useful for a researcher who knows quite a bit about Commodities and can appreciate the nuances between one author's opinion vs another's or someone who just wants to read up in detail on the latest academic research on commodities.

On the other hand, the information there can be overwhelming to a novice, who just wants to understand what the basics of commodities are before asking a "dumb" question about commodities to the diehards.

So my suggestion is to organize the papers within each specific topic into something like "basics", "intermediate", "advanced" etc or something reasonable so it becomes easier for folks to find the information might look for.

Thanks in advance.
_________________
Ash

The 82nd Boglehead.

[oneleaf]

I also like AshKK's suggestion.

I think Asset LOCATION would be a good topic. Perhaps the post could start off with Taylor's basic guideline for tax location (with his permission), followed by a few articles that explains it in more detail? I would think this would be good for newbies.

Thanks!

[gbs]

I like AshKK's ideea too only that I think that the readers should decide which papers are for Basics, Intermediate or Advanced reads.

Please post your suggestions here as you read the papers and I will reorganize the content as we go along.

gbs

[AshKK]

Hi gbs,

I have read the papers - items 1, 12, and 22 - in the Commodities library. Item 1 is a brief paper (4 pages) that introduces one to Commodity Futures. Item 12 is a more detailed paper that Item 1 references. Item 22 from Bill Bernstein, suggests that users read item 12, and gives Bernstein's take on Commodity Futures.

In my humble opinion, all three are "basic" read. Within the basic section, I would sort them as 1, 12, and 22 - in that order.

I hope others too offer their opinions on these and other papers.
_________________
Ash

The 82nd Boglehead.

[gbs]

Thank you AshKK,

I will make the changes.

Kind regards, gbs

[gbs]

Hi guys feel free to post away I just hope to be able to keep up with you

gbs

P.S. For simba: Thank you for your contribution; I deleted the performace link to VTMSX because it will be overwhelming to have links for every fund.

[gbs]

Phoenix posted this as the Library policy:

[Phoenix]

You're obviously an obedient person, gbs, but there is already a very good indication that I got the policy wrong when I dashed it off this morning.

Simba's post in this thread while it was still unlocked seems to me to fit in perfectly. As long as a Librarian is satisfied that a reply fits within a topic - and a Librarian can cut a reply out of a topic if he thinks not - then that's the place for it.

Unlock any topic you like if you want forum members to add their own items. I will count on you and Barry to keep the library as neat and tidy as you want it to be. The policy has been changed accordingly.

[gbs]

Thanks Phoenix,

gbs

[simba]

I didn't see a separate topic for Books, hence I am posting this here. Phoenix/gbs please move this it to the appropriate topic in the reference library.

• The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read - Daniel R Solin
  
• The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing: A Book for Procastinators, the Financially Challenged, and Everyone who worries about Dealing with Their Money - Paul B. Farrell
  
• The Boglehead's Guide to Investing - Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, Michael LeBoeuf
  
• The Random Walk Guide to Investing: Ten Rules for Financial Success - Burton G. Malkiel
  
• The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life - Bill Schultheis
  
• The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need - Larry Swedroe
  
• The Informed Investor: A Hype-Free Guide to Construcint a Sound Financial Portfolio - Frank Armstrong
  
• Where Are the CUstomers' Yachts - Fred Schwed
  
• Winning the Loser's Game - Charles D Ellis
  
  
• All about Index Funds - Rick Ferri
  
• All About Asset Allocation - Rick Ferri
  
• The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio - William J Bernstein
  
• The Intelligent Asset Allocator - William J Bernstein
  
• Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How to Correct Them - Gary Belsky, Thomas Gilovich
  
• Free Online Book - Investment Strategies for the 21st Century - Frank Armstrong
  
• Free Online Book - Serious Money - Rick Ferri
  
  
• Bogle On Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor - John C Bogle
  
• Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor - John C Bogle
  
• Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street - Peter L Bernstein
  
• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk - Peter L Bernstein
  
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing - Burton G. Malkiel
  
• Intelligent Investor Rev Ed - Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig

[gbs]

Hi Orthros,

I moved you post from the "Risk" to the "Books" section, because I think it would be better to have directly readable links in the topic sections.

We can reorganize the Books section on topics later on.

Thank you for your contribution!

gbs

[coastn]

'Sorry if this exists on this new board already, but I need a glossary. I've goten much of the jargon down, but some is still elusive, and there does not appear to be anywhere handy to go. This must be even more difficult for fresh newbies. Stuff like DFA, fama/French, SPM or DSM (I may have just made those up - but there seems to be an unendiing supply of three-letter entities.)

If I understand sticky correctly, this sounds like a sticky.

-David
_________________
Do good. Do well. Take a nap.

[gbs]

Hi David,

Thank you for your suggestion!

"glossary" created.

gbs

[gbs]

kcyahoo,

I moved your post from "Glossary" to "Books", because I would like to have directly readable links in the topic sections.

Thank you for your contribution!

gbs

[coastn]

gbs -

Thanks for the opening of the glossary sticky. 'Sorry I posted something there that should have been put here. You can delete that one anytime convenient.

There is no entry in the glossaries posted for SWR or RMD, as stated in the other forum

Also, and I knot this is all volunteer stuff and I appreciate that, the glossary should include some brief definition of the odd ones, like ff/. Many are self explanatory, but some are not.

How does one influence the main forum to get people to use descriptors other than the symbols. For me, since I do not have all the symbols committed to memory, it's vdery frustrating to read some of these posts.

-David

[gbs]

Hi David,

I see the "library" growing with the help of individual contributions and suggestions such as yours.

I can make a parallel with the EMH (efficient market hypothesis): the library is far from perfect but the more individual contributions and suggestions are added that reflect a real need the more perfect it becomes.

Perhaps one of our posters who understands what SWR, RMD and FF mean will be kind enough to add those definitions.

gbs

[orthros]

GBS, could we have an Acronyms post? I know a lot of them, but I still scratch my head from time to time.

[orthros]

NM. Just saw the other post. Duh.

[gbs]

orthros,

I added your RMD definition to the initial list.

gbs

[simba]

[gbs]

yes, I think it is a good idea. Alternatively we can place the extended explanation in-place.

gbs

[edge]

Although it may be common knowledge that international and maybe emerging market stocks are an excellent addition to a diversified portfolio - it would be nice if we had a reference describing how and why international investing has worked in the past.

[Barry Barnitz]

I have added a topic on international stocks.
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[Socrativestor]

This topical library is great. Thanks to all.

But what about a sticky / thread with links to other libraries (such as Eric Haas's as www.altruistfa.com) and online reference resources?
_________________
--Socrativestor
"Neither of us has any knowledge to boast of, but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance."

[Socrativestor]

I'd also like to second the idea of having a books thread. I know this may be redundant with diehards.org -- especially if this forum is going to be hosted there. But still ... a reference libarary is a reference libarary and one without "books" just doesn't seem complete.

(In fact, if duplication is an issue, then I'd suggest eliminating the list at diehards.org and pointing people here.)

Thanks again.
_________________
--Socrativestor
"Neither of us has any knowledge to boast of, but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance."

[gbs]

Socrativestor, we already have a book section.

Re: Sticky thread to link to other libraries...
I would like to avoid a possible conflict of interests and so we have to be very careful when adding links to other sites. Need more opinions on this especially from Mel and other experienced posters.

Coastn, Mel: I added/corrected as per your observations. Had to delete your posts from there (glossary) please post in this thread comments and suggestions as your comments would not be deleted from here ever. Contributions can be made to the topic threads.

gbs

[Barry Barnitz]

I added a link to the Vanguard topics page, including a link to annual and semiannual reports to your two links.

Thanks for your contributions.
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[Barry Barnitz]

Ash;

Thanks for catching the error on the Academics topic page; I corrected it and edited out your post to keep things tidy

I will be adding links to this page as we go on, perhaps with a few thumbnail references to the primary focus of the research.

Forum members should feel free to request any academic researcher they for whom they wish access, and we will try and comply.
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[AshKK]

Welcome, Barry. I should have pointed out my correction here, that post should indeed be tidy.
_________________
Ash

The 82nd Boglehead.

[AshKK]

I suggest two more authors:

Ken French
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf....er_id=1455

John Campbell
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf....r_id=17060
_________________
Ash

The 82nd Boglehead.

[gbs]

Hi AshKK,

Thank you for your contribution!

I added your post to the library.

You and anybody else please feel free to add contributions directly to the topic of interest in the library if you feel that is on topic and does not contain unrelated comments.

Use the existing format as a guide.

And

[TnGuy]

How about a topic (titled "Data", perhaps?) of sites and sources that carry 'raw data' such as yearly returns, etc? Could also have Excel info and help here, too.

TrevH on the other forum has been very gracious with the sharing of his data and sources. His most recent post in this regard carried return figures from 1972-2004 at The Journal of Financial Planning.

In the "International Stocks" thread here, 'Cyber Bob' linked to the TAM ASSET Excel spreadsheet that carries CRSP data from 1927-2005.

In searching the web I ran into this Russell Index site where you can access the return for all of their indexes dating from 1994-2006.

Here are the past 10 years (1997-2006) performance for Vanguard Funds (though I'm sure someone else knows of a site where data dating back much further is available).



I'm new to playing around with all of this in Excel, so I'm sure there are many good sites and sources out there I have no idea of yet. I look forward to learning and sharing much more.


David

[gbs]

Hi TnGuy,

A data repository was part of my initial proposal: http://diehards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33

I am still looking for the best format for it. We might start a new Forum section as soon as we decide on a policy. We have to be very careful to not infringe on copyright work.

If you guys have suggestions please post them here.

gbs

[kcyahoo]

I think posts on the bulletin board can be updated. How about taking the new book suggestions and adding them to the list on the post named "Books".
This post could be broken down into multiple sticky's.
Bogle's Books
Swedroe's Books
Ferri's Books
Asset Allocation
Catch All
etc.
GBS, Thank You for your contribution to this board.
_________________
Retired @ 57, now 68
was 50/45/5, then 42/54/04, now 36/59/5, heading for 30/65/05 in 2012.
KC

[orthros]

GBS, I know this is a post somewhere else, but what are you thoughts on a Library link for "Your current AA/portfolio holdings"? One post per user that could be updated/changed as needed?

I think it would be a great way to glean what the more mature investors on here actually do to make the rubber meet the road, if they were willing to share.

[gbs]

kcyahoo, thank you for your contributions as well!

[gbs]

Hi orthros,

[simba]

[gbs]

Obviously there are many ways of sorting the entries into the "Books" section.

We will have to decide together on what is the best way of doing it.

gbs

[simba]

How about a topic for all the lazy portfolio's?

Considering the number out there, we may have to split them up individually (Eg: Scott Burns/Bill Bernstein/Paul Farrell etc)

I know there are multiple places where you can get these but having it one place (ofcourse providing links/crediting the original author) would be beneficial to all.

[gbs]

Hi simba,

[gbs]

Reference Library posting policy updated.

All links to web-pages that were off-topic deleted from the Reference Library in oder to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Suggestion for new sub-forum posted in the "Forum Issues and Administration" section.

http://www.diehards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=267

gbs

[Barry Barnitz]

I have edited and alphabetized our Academic Research links; at some point we may have to co-ordinate the listings into either one or perhaps segmented alphabetized posts in order to have an easy to use reference page.

My edits in this section will be to stylize entries in advance of any future consolidation.

Also, at this juncture, GBS and I think we should reserve this section to academic peer reviewed research in order to maintain consistency and integrity.
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[shadowrings]

Coworker directed me to this link last night when we were discussing bond fund investing in general and municipals, state tax rates, and which state taxes what at what rate.

http://www.investinginbonds.co....&id=62

Site is operated for education purposes by the Bond Market Association, does not forbid hyperlinks to thier information, but does include standard copyright protection statement. Decent starter/intermediate information on municipal, government, corporate and MBS/ABS bonds.

Not certain if appropriate to post this here for library consideration or not.

regards,
vickie

[norm]

Here's some about retirement:

http://firecalc.com/index.php

http://news.morningstar.com/ar....?id=150332

On model portfolios:

http://www.geocities.com/finpl....-Data.html
_________________
NormC

�Illegitimus Non Carborundum �

“The art is not in making money, but in keeping it”

[JMacDonald]

Hi,
How about a section on ETFs? I don't have any suggestions because I would like to learn more about them myself. I am sure that there is plenty of information out there. Thanks.

Best Wishes,
Joe

[gbs]

Hi norm,

We will wait a little longer to see if a new sub-forum is created that will host the model portfolios together with the other links see:

http://diehards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=267

gbs

[gbs]

Hi JMacDonald,

Good suggestion ETF section created.

gbs

[gbs]

Hi simba,

First thank you for your contributions


I deleted this:

[heyyou]

Those Periodic Tables of Returns helped me see the randomness of returns, both relative to one another and positive and negative. Some years, bonds have the only positive returns, while other years bonds have the lowest returns.
The Callan table may be the original one, others from Templeton and Janus (yes, diversification from that poster child) include more asset categories like REITs, commodities, and emerging markets. The Janus one has an annual average of the listed returns, showing how a 1/N portfolio performed. All of them could use a dark bar representing zero between the two smallest and adjacent negative and positive returning asset sub-classes.
Please consider including the Periodic Tables somewhere with diversification information, if they are not there now.
Thank you.