Main Page

Bogleheads® wiki - Investing Advice Inspired by John Bogle

Academics Asset classes Employer provided retirement plans ETFs and mutual funds Financial planning Indexing Investing Non-US domiciles Personal retirement plans Retirement planning Tax considerations Complete list...

 

Welcome

John Bogle
(1929 - 2019)
Forum postsWelcome to the Bogleheads^® wiki, a collaborative undertaking by members of the Bogleheads Community. This wiki is a reference resource for investors. Bogleheads emphasize starting early, living below one's means, regular saving, broad diversification, and sticking to one's investment plan.

If all this seems a bit overwhelming, relax and don't panic. A good place to begin is getting started (or getting started for non-US investors). Returning visitors may be interested in our new pages.

 

Getting started

For US investors:

• Getting started - Start here.
• Bogleheads® investment philosophy - Our investment principles.
• Bogleheads® investing start-up kit - A top-down approach to start investing.
• Investment policy statement - Identify your investment objectives and how you plan to meet them.
• Bogleheads® personal finance planning start-up kit - Other than investing, such as financial planning, insurance, and saving for college.
• Preparing for retirement - Steps you should take before retiring.
• Prioritizing investments - Choosing where to save your investing money, such as an employer's retirement plan or a savings account.

For non-US investors:

• Getting started for non-US investors - Start here.
• Bogleheads® investment philosophy for non-US investors - Our investment principles.
• Bogleheads® investing start-up kit for non-US investors - A top-down approach to start investing.
• Outline of non-US domiciles - Overview of topics specifically aimed at non-US investors.

 

Today's featured article

An index fund is a fund that pools investors capital for the purpose of investing in securities, typically a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF), that aims to replicate the movements of an index of a specific financial market.

A well-managed index fund provides investors with a simple way to access such advantages as low costs, improved tax efficiency, style consistency and reduced manager risk. Investors should be mindful that not all index funds are low cost and that some indexes can be exploited by active investors when the indexes periodically reconstitute.

The key measure for accessing an index fund's efficiency is how well it tracks its benchmark index. (more...)

 

This week in financial history

April 19:

• 1776 - The US Congress appointed a Committee "to examine and ascertain the value of the several species of gold and silver coins and the proportions they ought to bear to the Spanish milled dollar." Source: Timeline of the United States Mint
• 1895 -
  
  The Railroad Gazette made the first public notice of the Herman Hollerith tabulating machine used for the 1890 census. Hollerith's great breakthrough was his use of electricity to read, count, and sort punched cards whose holes represented data gathered by the census-takers. His machines accomplished in one year what would have taken nearly ten years of hand tabulating. Hollerith's company later developed into the International Business Machines Corporation, known as IBM. Source: American Treasuries of the Library of Congress
• 1933 - The gold standard, which directly linked the American dollar to its worth in gold, was abandoned on this day during the Great Depression. Source: This Day in Economic history.

April 20:

• 2007 - The Wilshire 5000 Index closed above 15,000 for the first time in history. Source: Wilshire 5000

April 21:

• 1982 - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange began trading futures based on the S&P 500 index. Source: Key dates and milestones in the S&P 500's history

April 24:

• 1998 - The Toronto Stock Exchange announces closure of its traditional floor trading (open outcry) system to make way for a completely electronic trading environment. Source: Canadian History Timeline

April 25:

• 1947 - Noncompetitive bidders in US Treasury auctions were given the weighted average price of accepted competitive tenders. Source: Timeline of U.S. Treasury Auctions
• 2007 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 13,000 points for the first time. Source: Closing milestones of the Dow Jones Industrial Average

 

Can't find what you're looking for?

Use the wiki's Search box. Or, start from a top-level overview using Site navigation. A complete article list is also available.

You can search or register to ask a question on the Bogleheads forum, or browse recent posts from the Bogleheads' home page or our blog. We're also on Facebook.

Our Canadian sister site, Financial Wisdom Forum, and its finiki, the Canadian financial wiki has a similar focus, many like-minded members, and may be of interest as well.

We also have a sister site in Spain, Bogleheads® España (en español).

 

Contributing to the wiki

Anyone can read the wiki. If you would like to edit it, you must first join the Bogleheads forum. Once you've joined, send a private message requesting access, and you can then become an editor. Information on editing the wiki is available on the left sidebar of every wiki page. Suggestions are welcome by posting in Suggestions for the Wiki.

If you see content in need of improvement, or a new page on a topic not yet covered, consider becoming an editor so that you can contribute to the site. If you find yourself writing a reply to a forum question that's been discussed a number of times before, consider creating a wiki page with the answer. Then you and others can reply to subsequent questions on that topic with a link and a quote of your text. That way, the Bogleheads Community both preserves our knowledge base and makes it more accessible, particularly to those using search engines.