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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

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

A three-fund portfolio is a portfolio which does not slice and dice, but uses only basic asset classes — usually a domestic stock "total market" index fund, an international stock "total market" index fund and a bond "total market" index fund. It is often recommended for and by Bogleheads attracted by "the majesty of simplicity" (Bogle's phrase), and for those who want finer control and better tax-efficiency than they would get in an all-in-one fund like a target retirement fund.

There is no magic in the number three; the phrase is shorthand for a style of portfolio construction that emphasizes simplicity, and is related to lazy portfolios. (more...)

 

This week in financial history

April 5:

• 1928 - The Société anonyme de la Bourse de Luxembourg was incorporated as a limited company, establishing the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Source: History
• 2012 - The president signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law, which allows small businesses to use crowdfunding for seeking actual investors. It can raise up to $1 million this way. Source: JOBS Act opens fundraising doors for small firms

April 6:

• 1988 - The Standard & Poors 500 stock index was overhauled. Instead of being made up of 400 industrial stocks, 40 utilities, 40 financial stocks and 20 transportation issues, its industry weights were set to float freely, so that stocks from all sectors are represented by market value. Source: S&P 500 2001 Directory (Standard & Poors, New York, 2001), p. 10.
• 1998 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes over 9,000 for the first time. Source: Closing milestones of the Dow Jones Industrial Average

April 7:

• 1720 - King George I signed the South Sea Bill, granting virtual monopoly powers of financing to the South Sea Co. The stock closed the day at 335, up from less than 100 a few weeks earlier. By year-end, many investors had lost 80% of their money. Sources: John Carswell, The South Sea Bubble (The Cresset Press, London, 1960), pp. 124, 127.; and Charles Mackay, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Chapter Two: The South Sea Bubble.
• 1792 - The first market crash in the US hit rock bottom on April 7, 1792. The price of 6% United States bonds slumped to 100, down from 127.50 on January 31st, a 22% plunge in just 13 weeks. Source: David J. Cowen, The First Bank of the United States and the Securities Market Crash of 1792, The Journal of Economic History, December, 2000 (Vol. 60, No. 4), pp. 1044, 1051.
• 1958 - The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that affirmed the right of a fund adviser (Insurance Securities Incorporated, or ISI) to sell a controlling interest in its stock at a premium to its book value. This opened the flood gates to public ownership of management companies. Source: John C. Bogle remarks, February 24, 2006, (U.S. Court of Appeals decision)

April 8:

• 2013 - Australia and China agree to make their currencies directly exchangeable in a deal that advances internationalization of the yuan and reduces costs for companies. Source: Australia, China agree to make their currencies directly exchangeable
• 2016 - The US Department of Labor issues fiduciary standard rules. Source: Bogleheads® forum post: [DOL Rule on Fiduciary Standard is Released]

April 9:

• 1720 - Earliest known discussion of securities analysis is published in The London Flying-Post. Sources: The Houston Economics Club, Google Books

April 10:

• 1951 - John Bogle publishes his Princeton senior thesis, The Economic Role of the Investment Company. Many of the values expressed in this paper would later become the core of The Vanguard Group. Source: Vanguard Child of Princeton (The paper is published in John Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years, ISBN 978-1-119-08836-3)
• 1962 - The FTSE All Shares Index, a broad index of United Kingdom stocks, was launched on April 10, 1962. Source: FTSE All Shares Indices, fact sheet

April 11:

• 1950 - T. Rowe Price launched its first mutual fund, the Growth Stock Fund, on April 11, 1950.
• 2000 - The first exchange-traded funds began trading on European markets on April 11, 2000. Two funds, iShares Stoxx Europe 50 Ucits ETF and the iShares Euro Stoxx 50 Ucits ETF were listed on the Deutsche Börse. Source: 15 years since the first ETF hit Europe

 

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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.