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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...

 

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

Investing FAQ for the Bogleheads® forum provides short answers, and links to longer answers, for questions which often come up in the Bogleheads forum, in order to avoid repetitive discussions and to provide a quick reference for common answers. If you would like to ask one of these questions but have follow-up questions or an unusual situation which may not be covered by the FAQ, feel free to ask it. (more...)

 

This week in financial history

August 15:

• 1971 - The United States stopped converting dollars to gold, ending the gold standard. Source: Milestones - Office of the Historian

August 17:

• 1989 - Vanguard introduced small cap stock indexing in the US market by converting Naess & Thomas Special Fund into an index fund based on the Russell 2000 Index.

August 19:

• 1983 - The Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) made one of the largest municipal bond defaults (2.25 billion dollars) in U.S financial history on August 19, 1983. A 1988 settlement rendered some investors 40 cents on every dollar invested; other investors received 10 cents on the dollar. Sources: Bank asks Debt Payoff, NY Times; Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), HistoryLink.org

August 20:

• 1996 - The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 enacted the creation of the Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees Individual Retirement Account (SIMPLE), a contributory retirement plan for US small business employees. The Act (in Sec. 1806) also exempted a qualified State tuition program from taxation. These qualified tuition programs were to be called 529 plans, because 529 is the section of the Internal Revenue Code that governs their operation.

 

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.