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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... 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

Welcome 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. Returning visitors may be interested in our new pages.

 

Getting started

• 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.

 

Today's featured article

Mutual funds are registered investment companies that pool investors capital for the purpose of investing in securities. Mutual funds are managed by professional money managers. They are a primary funding vehicle for the corporate contributory retirement system in the United States. In 2014, a total of 7,923 U.S. mutual funds held over 16 trillion dollars of assets, owned by forty-three percent of American households and an estimated 90.4 million individuals

Mutual funds offer investors the advantage of diversification, professional management, liquidity, and convenience. These advantages are offset by such factors as costs, fund turnover, and the consequences of organizational structure. (more...)

 

This week in financial 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

April 26:

• 1922 - A questionnaire for regular examination of member firms' financial condition was inaugurated by the New York Stock Exchange. (Source)
• 1973 - The Chicago Board Options Exchange opened for trading as 911 contracts were sold on 16 underlying stocks. Source: Business history: Derivatives
• 2002 - William Bernstein's book, The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio was published on April 26, 2002.

April 27:

• 1992 - Vanguard introduced the first broad U.S. index fund when it launched the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. Source: The First Index Mutual Fund

April 28:

• 2000 - The first exchange-traded fund to trade in the United Kingdom, the iShares Core FTSE 100 Ucits ETF, was launched on April 28, 2000. Source: 15 years since the first ETF hit Europe

 

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 forum posts from the Bogleheads' home page. 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.

 

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.