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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

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. 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

An Investment policy statement (IPS) is a statement that defines general investment goals and objectives. It describes the strategies that will be used to meet these objectives and contains specific information on subjects such as asset allocation, risk tolerance, and liquidity requirements.

Consider the use of a simple investing plan (see below):

• For investors challenged by the complexity of an Investment Policy Statement
• When the investment objectives don't justify the effort needed to create an Investment Policy Statement (more...)

 

This week in financial history

August 26:

• 2014 - The Standard & Poors 500 index closed over 2000 for the first time in history on August 26, 2014. Source: Closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index

August 27:

• 2001 - The first exchange-traded funds to list in Australia were the SPDR S&P/ASX 50 Fund (SFY AU) and SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (STW AU) on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Source: ETF Landscape: Celebrating 10 Years of ETFs in Australia

August 31:

• 1602 - The Dutch stock exchange began with the completion of the subscription period for the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - V.O.C.) on August, 31, 1602. By 1607, forwards, options, and repos were being traded. Source: Lodewijk Petram, The world’s first stock exchange: how the Amsterdam market for Dutch East India Company shares became a modern securities market, 1602-1700, pp. 18-22 preview
• 1976 - The first index fund designed for US retail investors, The Vanguard Index Trust, started trading. The fund tracked the Standard & Poors 500 stock index and still exists today as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Source: The First Index Mutual Fund
• 1997 -The first US inflation-indexed security (TIPs) auction was held. The security auctioned was a 10-year note. Source: TreasuryDirect

September 1:

• 1964 - William Sharpe published his paper on the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Capital Asset Prices - A Theory of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions of Risk, on September 1, 1964. Source : Google scholar
• 1993 - John Bogle's first book, Bogle On Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor, was published by McGraw-Hill.
• 1998 - The US Treasury introduced for sale a new inflation-indexed savings bond, the ibond. The first ibond was issued with a fixed rate of 3.40 percent. Source: Rates and Terms

 

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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.