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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

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

July 27:

• 1694 - The Royal Charter was sealed establishing the Bank of England on July 27, 1694. Source:Timeline: Bank of England
• 1866 - The opening of Cyrus W. Field's Atlantic Cable led to inauguration of arbitrage in which brokers profited by price differences between New York and London markets for U.S. shares.(Source)

July 28:

• 1971 - Wells Fargo launched the worlds first stock-index fund with $6 million from the pension fund of Samsonite Corp. Source:Peter L. Bernstein, Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street (Free Press, New York, 1992), p. 247.
• 1990 - The Ho Chi Minh City Stock exchange officially starts trading. Source: Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (Vietnamese) (Google Translate)

July 30:

• 1965 - The Social Security Amendments of 1965 was signed into law, establishing Medicaid and Medicare in the United States. Source: Legislative history
• 2002 - The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was signed into law. The Act mandated a number of reforms to enhance corporate responsibility, enhance financial disclosures and combat corporate and accounting fraud, and created the "Public Company Accounting Oversight Board" to oversee the activities of the auditing profession. (Source)

July 31:

• 1914 - The outbreak of World War I in Europe forced the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to shut its doors on July 31, 1914 after large numbers of foreign investors began selling their holdings in hopes of raising money for the war effort. Trading did not resume until December 1914. Source: Business history of bonds
• 2013 - US Treasury auctions: The Uniform Offering Circular (UOC) was amended to accommodate the auction and issuance of Floating Rate Notes (FRNs). Source: Timeline of U.S. Treasury Auctions

August 1:

• 1952 - The College Retirement Equity Fund (CREF), the first variable annuity, was created to provide a global stock market investment for pension participants.
• 2013 - The Standard & Poors 500 index closed over 1700 for the first time in history on August 1, 2013. Source: Closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index
• 2014 - The Wilshire 5000 index closed over 18,000 for the first time on August 1, 2014. Source: Wilshire500

 

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.