The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (Little Books. Big Profits) eBook: John C. Bogle: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Review

"excellent advice in a concise and accessible manner." (The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2007)

"It′s hard to argue with the eloquent logic of John C. Bogle′s latest ode to index funds…Bogle′s ′Little Book′ offers much exemplary advice." (Bloomberg News, April 2007)

Among monetary gurus and wise men, John Bogle is a singular case. As the founder of the highly regarded Vanguard Group, he is revered for the company′s commitment to providing value to its clients as well as profits to its investors. He even has his own group of fans, called "Bogleheads," who cling to every utterance and pronouncement from the great man.
In this latest entry in the Little Book series, Bogle′s gentle prose contains idiot–proof advice for investors at all levels. He punctures the myth of the superiority of mutual funds and instead declares that by using a bit of common sense, low–cost index funds are the way to go for most modest stock investors. He′s also wary of the ways of Wall Street and cautions investors to steer clear of its institutional con men and cautions against excessive fees and taxes that invariably eat up profits.
It′s not very glamorous or exciting advice, but that′s also his point: Slow and steady wins the race. (Miami Herald, April 9, 2007)

"genuinely provides investors with the ideal strategy for making the most of stock–market investing" (Motley Fool′s UK website, March 8, 2007)

"It′s an easy read that will, I suspect, quickly join Burton Malkiel′s A Random Walk Down Wall Streetand Charles Ellis′s Winning the Loser′s Gameas one of the indexing crowd′s favorite books."—Jonathan Clements (Wall Street Journal)

"It′s hard to argue with the eloquent logic of John C. Bogle′s latest ode to index funds." (Bloomberg Terminal, March 8, 2007).

"provides an opportunity to reflect on a remarkable career and legacy." (Financial Times, 19th March 2007)

"…it is John Bogle′s hymn to index–tracking investment, and a fascinating read it is too." (Daily Telegraph, March 2007)

"Those who doubt my reasoning should read the Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle." (FT Adviser, 24th April 2007)

"…particularly interesting…goes some way towards discrediting the stockpicking virtues taught to me in my time as a financial journalist." (Fund Strategy, 7th May 2007)

"…wittily written, pocket–sized guide…If you want to learn how to avoid the unpredictabilities of the stock market and the fees of middle men, then this book is well worth a read." (Pensions Age, May 2007)

" ... For the individual investor, it presents a solid game plan for growing funds over the long haul." (Directorship, July 2007)

"... read Bogle′s new Little Book of Common Sense Investingand you′ll see how easy it is to beat the Alpha Hunters at their own game!" (MarketWatch, July 2007)

‘The one big thing that Bogle knows –– and explains so well in this slender volume –– is that buying and holding a broad benchmark of stocks while keeping fees to a minimum leads to higher long–term returns than constantly trading in a vain attempt to beat the market. Common sense? Yes. But radical too, as the entire investing establishment is designed to get investors to do the exact opposite.” (CNNMoney)

“Reading it is like having a fireside chat with one of the masters of investing.” CityWire.co.uk Friday 8 August 2008

Bloomberg News, April 2007

"hard to argue with the eloquent logic of John C. Bogle s latest ode to index funds, offers much exemplary advice."

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Common Sense 15 April 2009

By A. Flack

Format:Hardcover

This book is indeed all about common sense except its length.
Don't try to beat the markets and get caught out - use the method of diversification to maximise the return of the whole market.
This book is a good start for investors and will give the passive (those who do not wish to do lots of analysis in to each company they invest in) investor the best return for their money without paying fund managers to line their own pockets.
For those who do want to analyse stocks and take an active role in the market, this book will be informative for the first couple of chapters, then move on to "The little book of Value Investing".
As a general summary the book could have been a lot "little-r". Bogle gets his point across very eloquently in the first few chapters and then repeats and repeats the point over the rest of the book. If you are short of patience - this will be tiresome and frustrating.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Minimise the costs of financial intermediation 28 Feb 2011

By P Newall

Bogle lays out an emphatic case for why costs matter to the individual investor. Unlike almost every other sector, financial intermediaries have found a clever way of hiding the true cost of their products. When you "buy" a mutual fund or invest through a financial adviser, the total cost of your decision will never be readily advertised.

For starters, there will be your mutual fund expense ratio. This will often be around 1.5-3%. Then there are the internal costs incurred when the fund turns over its holdings: this will often take a hidden 0.5-1%. Sales loads of up to 5% are often incurred when purchasing a new fund; with this your investment immediately shrinks by 1/20th, never to be recovered. Finally, your financial adviser will also take a cut -- often 1-1.5%.

These costs are all hidden, as they are only reflected by a steady drain in your account balance. A few percent every year is masked by the annual volatility of investing; however, this steady drain will greatly impoverish you over a life's investing. If your portfolio is six-figures or more, you can be incurring thousands of pounds of needless costs a year. Bogle shows a chart where a high-cost fund shrinks an investor's final portfolio value by more than half! This is because extra costs greatly diminish the power of compounded returns over time. If you overpay by �1,000 for your investment products in year 1, then not only do you lose this money immediately, you also lose the benefit of any compounded returns on this sum over time.

Bogle outlines a better way to invest: products are on offer with a cost of no more than 0.25% a year. These products -- index funds and ETFs -- are available to any individual investor at the click of a button and can greatly improve your financial future.

Bogle's case for low-cost investing is emphatic; however, in order to implement it yourself, you will need to learn some basics of asset allocation. There are many books that cover this information, including David Darst's title in the Little Book series. Financial advisers who only charge an hourly fee for one-off advice are also available if you are feeling unsure about your plan.

"Common Sense" indeed 17 Oct 2009

By Gregor

I came to this after reading Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing" where John Bogle's name was mentioned several times. The goal of this book is to convince the reader that "the classic index fund is the only investment that guarantees the achievement" of investment success and the author sets about his task with zeal. Its a short volume that gives a good, straightforward overview of the arguments as to why index funds make sense for most (all ?) investors who are looking to invest in equities (and bonds as well). The writing style is clear and logical (if sometimes repetitious) with plenty of data to support the argument. Each chapter ends with a selection of quotes from market practitioners and academics and is a good source of bibliographic material.

I would have liked more discussion of asset allocation than just the few pages in the last chapter (although to be fair it is a short book) and I thought that the author was overly dismissive of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). He's also not shy in name-dropping his own company Vanguard and their range of index funds. (Though looking at the Vanguard U.S. website makes you realise how poor and expensive is the range of index funds available in the UK.)

Overall though this book is useful and interesting reading and achieved its aim of convincing this reader. Worth buying.