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John Bogle
We help you make good financial decisions by tuning out the noise and focusing on just a handful of simple, core principles that have proved successful over time. Although they are simple, following them is not always easy.
If this is your first visit, begin at "Getting started" below.
Regular visitors may want to look at our new articles.
Getting started
For US investors:
- Getting started - Start here.
- Investment philosophy - Our investment principles.
- 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.
- 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.
- Investment philosophy for non-US investors - Our investment principles.
- Investing start-up kit for non-US investors - A top-down approach to start investing.
- Outline of non-US domiciles - Overview of topics specifically for non-US investors.
Personal finance
Personal finance covers not only investing, but day-to-day finances, budgeting, insurance, taxes, estate planning, and retirement.
For US investors:
- Personal finance planning start-up kit - Start here.
- Financial planning - The first thing you should do.
- Household budgeting - Understand how much you make and how much you spend.
- Emergency fund - Have cash on-hand for life's unexpected events.
- Insurance - Auto, home, medical
- Estate planning - Be prepared when bad things happen.
Retirement
Retirement is a major event in many people's lives. It is not only a lifestyle change, but a change in income and spending.
Planning for this life-changing event is important.
For US investors:
- Retirement planning start-up kit - Start here.
- Preparing for retirement - Steps you should take before retiring.
- Retirement policy statement - Lay-out your retirement plans and strategies.
From today's featured article
Understanding and avoiding behavioral pitfalls will ultimately have a greater impact on investing success than any other factor. Since emotions and subsequent behavioral pitfalls are frequently associated with miscalculating risk tolerance and asset allocation, the new investor should be aware of behavioral pitfalls before making asset allocation decisions.
“Your investing brain does not just add and multiply and estimate and evaluate,” says Jason Zweig in his book, Your Money and Your Brain. “When you win, lose, or risk money, you stir up some of the most profound emotions a human being can ever feel.” (more...)
This week in financial history
- 1974 - The Fidelity Daily Income Trust (now Fidelity® Government Cash Reserves) became the first money market fund to offer check writing privileges. Source: This day in financial history, Houston Finance Club
- 1996 - The Tallinn Stock Exchange in Estonia began trading on May 31, 1996. The exchange is now part of the Baltic Market component of the NASDAQ OMX Exchanges. The OMX comprises eight Baltic and Nordic exchanges.Source: History
June 1:
- 1932 - Benjamin Graham, writing during the nadir of the depression-era bear market in US stocks, published the first of three articles in Forbes, where he pointed out that over one-third of the market's stocks were being valued at less than liquidation value. Source: Forbes Magazine: “Is American Business Worth More Dead than Alive?” by Benjamin Graham (1932), available for download
- 1992 - Eugene Fama and Kenneth French published the paper, The cross‐section of expected stock returns, introducing the Fama/French three-factor model of stock returns. Source: Google scholar
June 2:
- 1997 - On June 2, 1997, the minimum tick size on the NASDAQ stock exchange changed from 1/8 to 1/16 on all stocks with a bid price of $10 or more. The New York Stock Exchange implemented a similar change on June 24, 1997. Source: Spreads, Depths, and Quote Clustering on the NYSE and Nasdaq, available for download.
June 4:
- 1968 - The Standard & Poors 500 index closed over 100 for the first time in history on June 4, 1968. Source: Closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index
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Sister projects
Our Canadian sister site, Financial Wisdom Forum, and its wiki, finiki, the Canadian financial wiki, has a similar focus with many like-minded members, and you might also find this site interesting.
We also have a sister site in Spain, Bogleheads® España (en español).
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