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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

Mutual funds are registered investment companies that pool investors capital for the purpose of investing in securities. Mutual funds are managed by professional money managers. They are a primary funding vehicle for the corporate contributory retirement system in the United States. In 2014, a total of 7,923 U.S. mutual funds held over 16 trillion dollars of assets, owned by forty-three percent of American households and an estimated 90.4 million individuals

Mutual funds offer investors the advantage of diversification, professional management, liquidity, and convenience. These advantages are offset by such factors as costs, fund turnover, and the consequences of organizational structure. (more...)

 

This week in financial history

May 3:

• 1946 - Fidelity Management & Research Company was founded and Edward C. Johnson 2nd became president. Source: Sixty Years of Excellence
• 1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 11,000 points for the first time. Source: Closing milestones of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
• 2013 - The Standard & Poors 500 index closed over 1600 for the first time in history on May 3, 2013. Source: Closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index
• 2013 - The Wilshire 5000 index closed over 17,000 for the first time in history. Source: Wilshire 5000

May 5:

• 1979 - The first modern leveraged buyout using high-yield junk bonds, a $381 million deal to take Houdaille Industries private, is completed by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. Source: George P. Baker and George David Smith, The New Financial Capitalists: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Creation of Corporate Value (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 71.

May 5:

• 2003 - An electronic version of the US Series EE savings bond was offered. Source: Timeline of US Savings Bonds

May 6:

• 1929 - The first trading session took place on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Source: Luxembourg Stock Exchange History
• 2010 - In a technical market disturbance known as the "flash crash", the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst intra-day point loss, dropping nearly 1,000 points before partially recovering. Source

May 7:

• 2007 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 15,000 points for the first time. Source: Closing milestones of the Dow Jones Industrial Average

May 8:

• 1929 - John Bogle, author and founder of the Vanguard Group of investment companies was born on May 8, 1929 in Montclair, New Jersey. Source: The Bogle eBlog

May 9:

• 1894 - Benjamin Graham, considered the father of value investing, and coauthor/author of classic investment texts, Security Analysis (1934) and The Intelligent Investor (1949) was born on May 9, 1894 in London, U.K Source:Benjamin Graham, Wikipedia
• 1972 - The final version of a study by Fisher Black and Myron Scholes introducing the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Formula was received by the Journal of Political Economy. This study specified the first successful options pricing formula (mathematics of option pricing, dynamic hedging strategies using options and other derivatives) and described the general framework for pricing derivative securities. The formula is one of most important mathematical tools in the modern theory of finance. Sources: Business history of Wall Street; The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 86, p.637.

 

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.