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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.
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.
- 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
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
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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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
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