The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

In this summary you will learn

• What an index fund is
• Why index funds are reliable investments
• How index fund returns compare to individual stocks or other funds
• How emotion, management fees and short-term thinking affect your investments
• Why you want to avoid exchange traded funds and other forms of short-term stock picking

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Why you should read The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Author John C. Bogle is the former chairman and CEO of The Vanguard Mutual Fund Group, the world's largest pure no-load mutual fund company. In 1976, he conceptualized, developed and introduced the world's first index fund for the individual investor. This brand new investment product revolutionized the financial marketplace. In the words of Dr. Paul Samuelson of M.I.T., "The creation of the first index fund by John Bogle was the equivalent of the invention of the wheel and the alphabet." Today, index funds account for $1 trillion in invested funds. Everyone from investment genius Warren Buffett to Nobel Laureates Samuelson, William Sharpe and Daniel Kahneman recommend index funds for the typical investor. Bogle explains what index funds do and why they are reliable investments in this exhaustively researched, carefully reasoned, highly accessible, common sense book. If you are an investor, getAbstract believes you should take Bogle seriously; after all, he invented this alternative.

About the Author

John C. Bogle is the founder and former chairman and CEO of one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world. He is an author of numerous popular books on investments. In 2004, TIME named him as one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people.