This book establishes a set of basic principles for investing and, to a lesser degree, personal finance. The authors propose the principles, explain them, illustrate them and show you how to apply them.

The book glances on non-investment personal finance topics including adopting a net worth mindset, emergency funds, estate planning, and insurance. The insurance chapter was very valuable and exposed several fallacious rationalizations people apply to insurance purchase decisions.

The meat of the book is investing. Investing is covered in great detail, including in-depth descriptions of various investments, how they work, and how (or if) you should use them. The coverage of the effect of taxes on your investments is detailed and invaluable. The costs of investing are examined, and when you know where to look, you may find some nasty surprises in your current investments, especially your 401k plan!

The entire book is highly opinionated, and I found that refreshing. The authors know what they're talking about, have a good idea of what the average person saving for retirement needs to do, and never fail to call it the way they see it. The writing style is fact-based advice, with humorous sayings sprinkled about, and is best described as "grandfatherly."

The chapter on behavioral economics was an eye-opener. I thought that I was smart enough not to fall for any of those traps. I smugly read through the first half of them, then recognized myself in "Paralysis by Analysis." Oh my. That gave me some food for thought, and a new outlook.

I did find the chapter on Asset Allocation to be lacking in practical advice. It only glanced on how to make an asset allocation for yourself, and didn't address the difficulties of balancing an asset allocation over multiple tax-advantaged accounts that have contribution limits and withdrawal penalties. (But there's a list of recommended reading in the back, and maybe one of those books will have more information on this topic.)

Having just finished the book, I'm going back through it and making a list of information I need and actions to take. I finally have a direction to go in, and not just more conflicting details!

There is nothing like a Bear Market to get you to question a lot of things about the wonderful world of investing. Having said that, this book which focuses on the ideas of John Bogle is just the ticket to set you straight on a number of critically important investment concerns. Asset allocation, the importance of having the lowest costs, how the mutual fund businss really works, it's all here and it all makes perfect sense. I wish now that I had heard more of the wisdom that this man has been passing along for so many years while inventing index funds at Vanguard Investments. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest with greater confidence and success for the long term. It may well change the way you think about the world of Wall Street and investing. It did for me.

This is absolutely wonderful. Bogle goes through everything to do with mutual funds and index investing. He points out that its a no-brainer to invest in an index fund if you don't actively invest yourself. One of the best books on stock investing i have ever read.

I received the 3 copies of this book I ordered in a very timely manner. These are for the 3 children we have, who we feel will learn from reading the book or if they have questions can quickly look them up. Good for reference.

This book gives excellent advice primarily about mutual fund investing and retiring. It is basically a primer on retirement planning and leans heavily toward Vanguard funds. It is easy to read and has lots of common sense advice and examples proving the authors' suggestions.

I would suggest it to anyone needing a basic primer on retirement plan investing.

If you are going to read one investment book, I hope you are lucky enough to read this one. Its the only investment book that you need. One of the thing I like about the book is the authors give actual advise and tell you a great approach to investing. They don't claim to be #1 but give time tested strategies to make smart investment descions and spend the rest of your time where you need to.

Also trying to beat there strategy may only work for a small lucky percentage. So read this book and you really do not need to read any further.

This book is a gem and eye opener for novice investors or people planning begin investing. Inherently it is biased as the title suggests for making a case about Vanguard and its product offerings though a bias that is useful, credible and most of all truthful. The essence of the investment advice is that you have an 80% chance of loosing your investment in the market if you are looking for a short-term bullish miracle and you have a 80% chance of growing your investment if you are looking for a long-term investment strategy and willing to stay immune from bad advice and impulse investing or as the books puts it Ivestment Pornography. It explains the different investment products offered on the market with the Pro's and Con's of each. Most advice is based on research studies of the market. Patterns that prove one investment strategy against another. If you are a novice investor you should feel confident about making your first investment after swimming through this book. Naturally you will make the conservative yet lucrative choice but thats exactly what the book teaches. If you cannot find enough detail about any one product, the book definitely leaves trails for further study and learning. It also discussed briefly about insurance and investment planning in the case of your death, absolutely read this information as it is just as important to know besides your investments because you could loose a great portion of your investments if not handled properly. It provided some very useful insight and left the ground open for more research. The book also covers tax implications of your investments, though a little more research to supplement what the book says should fill in gaps in understanding it.

One of the best capital gains you will come out with by having started your investment journey with this book is the Bogleheads forum.

What this book doesn't do is promote too many investment styles. For those people who buy this book, surely read all of it.

I considered myself somewhere between beginner and intermediate in terms of investing knowledge before reading this book. I feel it does a good job of highlighting most of the major investment principles and vehicles available and manages to get detailed without being too drawn out. It goes well beyond the typical cliches of 'max out your employer matched 401K' or 'fund a Roth IRA'. I found the areas of portfolio allocation and portfolio tax efficiency most beneficial to me. This book isn't going to help you get rich quick, but I feel it will help you increase your wealth and investing knowledge for the long haul.

The Bogleheads' Guide To Investing is a easy reading book on investing with no-load mutual funds. Whether saving for retirement,college or handling money in general, this book would be a good place to start learning the fundamentals on how to keep more money in your pocket and out of your advisor's or broker's. While some may need some financial help through a pro, if one has the desire to read and learn about investments and how they work, one can save themselves thousands of dollars in fees and other costs associated with investing. Learn about index funds,diversification,asset allocation and rebalancing. The authors show you how to tune out the noise of the media and stay the course! Been with Vanguard since the early 90's and have not regretted since.If you want to be a winner in investing,Vanguard is the place to be!!

Of all the books I've read on investing (and there've been many), none were as straight-forward and enjoyable as this one. It's an excellent book for new investors, longtime investors who want to invest with more confidence, and young adults just heading out into the world. I wish I'd had been given the advice in this book years ago.

I just graduated college and was reading a few blogs that recommended this book. I needed something for a new gradurate to get started on the right foot. However, after reading it I can see where it can be great for everyone. One of the biggest concepts I retained was regarding commissions and fees. That 1% in there really doesn't seem like to much. However, adding it over time really has a substantial effect. One of their recommendations was to have other sources of income. I took that to heart, and developed a book club like blog, which reviews books about increasing your wealth. I started out with this one. If you want to read it with me head over to http://readforwealth.blogspot.com/ . If not, enjoy the book, it is well worth your time.

After checking out this book from the library, I'm setting out to buy my own copy. The book is straight forward and easy to understand. After two-hundred pages, I'm a better informed investor. The authors don't condescend to the reader, and also recommends a variety of electronic and print resources for future study. I highly recommend this!

This book is a great guide for beginners and those with advanced knowledge of investing. It gives excellent advice on how to save and invest in a simple profitable way.

I read this book quickly shortly after I got it, and I was blown away. Many reviewers pick this as a book for "beginners", but I don't agree with that.

My background: I have read (and own) dozens of investment books. I have subscribed to many newsletters (including Morningstar's, which is decent but unnecessary after you read this book). I have owned many individual stocks and for the last 2-3 years before I got the Boglehead religion I was lucky and beat the market averages buying individual stocks (although for most of my life I've lagged far below the market). I opened my first brokerage account in 1990, and I've been self-directed ever since. I've had 400%+ years as well as -70% years. I've even been in the top 100 virtual mutual funds on Marketocracy (out of 70,000), and I've written custom software to analyze the daily performance of the top 1500 stocks.

Having said all that, I wish that I had followed the investment principles laid out in this book from the very beginning. I would have a lot more money than I do now.

Before reading this book, I already had all my retirement money in Vanguard index funds. So you would think, end of story, you're already a believer. NOT SO! While I started out using the Target Retirement funds, which allocates your money properly for your age, I slowly deviated from those funds into the higher risk emerging markets index fund, because that fund was doing so well. It's easy to read this book and say, "oh that makes sense", stay the course for a year or so, then get seduced by the hot performance of a particular sector and lose your way. For these principles to work, you really have to apply them relentlessly, and I think that it takes either someone with an iron discipline or someone who's acquired "experience" in the market (i.e., losses that hurt) to recognize the wisdom of this book and follow it.

Years ago, I read John Bogle's book on index funds, and I agreed with the logic of what he was saying. Then I proceeded to ignore it for most of my investing career before I really "got" what he was saying.

Perhaps, if you're a beginner, you'll follow this book and avoid the pain and losses. The principles are easy enough to understand. In fact, if you want to save the price of the book, simply go to Vanguard, pick your retirement date, buy a "Target Retirement" fund for that date, and you're done. That's pretty much what the book tells you to do.

BUT, you'll need the book (and, in my opinion, the "experience" of following the 99% of the misleading advice out there) to really understand why this is the real way to go. You almost have to read this book every year as an antidote to the temptation that assaults you nonstop from Wall Street and CNBC and all the financial magazines.

If you're a beginning investor, this is it. This book is the mother lode. You can stop looking. Unfortunately, it may take you 10-15 years and many large losses to realize this (as I had to do), but take it from me (some random anonymous person on the Internet), this is the REAL DEAL.

Knowing what I do now, if at age 21 I'd had my choice of $2,000,000 or the wisdom to understand the concepts in this book, I'd choose wisdom. Here are two examples from this book to illustrate why. On page 13 of this book Jack Bogle relates a letter that he received in early 2005 about someone who's been investing with Vanguard for about 30 years, and whose portfolio had grown to over $1.25 million, but he'd never made more than $25,000 in any year in his life. Although they knew nothing about his specific investing history (maybe he just got lucky? we don't know), this figure is attainable investing $600 a month in a Vanguard stock index fund over 30 years.

On the other hand, according to an NBC News report related on page 180 of the book, more than 70 percent of lottery winners exhaust their fortunes within 3 years.

So, clearly, doing the right thing is going to have a huge impact on how much money you end up with.

Even the most experienced investors will benefit from this book (and in fact, may benefit more) by simplifying their portfolio. The chapters on asset allocation and taxes are extremely insightful, even to non-beginners.

After reading this book, I immediately re-balanced my Vanguard portfolio to better fit my age group, and to lower the risk that I was taking.

Even as an "experienced" investor already in Vanguard index funds, I learned something actionable that I was immediately able to apply. If you consider yourself an "experienced" investor, you will also benefit from reading this book. I highly recommend it. My ENTIRE retirement portfolio is in Vanguard index funds, allocated in the recommended amounts, so this is not an idle recommendation.

Read it and live it.

(Just so you know, I have never visited the Boglehead web site, and I have never corresponded with any of the authors. I'm just an uninterested third party who's a big fan of this book).

The one book every invester must read. Besides simple to understand investing wisdom it tells you how to approach all of your financial decisions.

This book contains a wealth (hah! pun!) of useful information for two kinds of people: 1) novice investors; 2) experienced investors who have not had much success (probably because they didn't follow the strategies outlined in this book).

As the book explains, one of the most important things for investors to understand about people in the financial industry is that most of them are salesmen; i.e, they make their money by taking your money. As Woody Allen said, "A broker is someone who invests your money until it's all gone." Once you understand that fact, everything else falls into place.

Another important thing for investors to understand is that history teaches valuable lessons about investing. In particular, history teaches that no one can beat the market consistently, and trying to beat the market is expensive. No one wants to be an expensive failure, so being satisfied with merely tying the market, not beating it, is eminently sensible. Index funds are cheap, reliable ways to tie the market; therefore, investing in index funds is eminently sensible. You can't beat the market that way, but you can beat the vast majority of the fools wasting their money trying to beat the market.

Another important thing for investors to understand is that the market is volatile, therefore having a diversified portfolio of non-correlated investments is eminently sensible. The book provides specific advice about how to diversify, including advice about how the recommended asset allocation might change over time. (Bogle's company, Vanguard, has a reputation for being pretty conservative. Not surprisingly, the recommendations in this book are pretty conservative too. Personally, I think the recommended stock/bond allocations are too conservative by 10% or more at each stage of life, but that could be just personal preference.)

In addition to the central concepts and strategies summarized above, this book also has chapters on the importance of saving early and often, retirement calculators to help you figure out how much you need to retire, withdrawal strategies for making your retirement funds last as long as you do, the potentially devastating impact of inflation and taxes, why market-timing and chasing performance are doomed to failure, strategies for saving for college, the basics of insurance and annuities, and a very brief discussion of estate planning.

All in all, I thought this was a very informative book. Novice investors would certainly benefit from it. Unsuccessful investors would also certainly benefit from it. Experienced, successful investors are probably already following its recommendations, so they might not get too much out of it, other than confirmation of how clever they are. And that's not an entirely bad thing either!

My employer loaned me The Bogleheads Guide to Investing to read. It is a simple and concise way to understand investing and finances. I wished it had been available years ago. After I gave it back to her I purchased my own copy to review it as I needed. My brother saw my copy and ordered 6 copies for himself and his grown children. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in acquiring a secure financial future. I would even recommend it even if you are not interested because one day you will be.

Every ordinary working class investor should follow the advice in this book for financial success. I am a believer in Vanguard, and would recommend them to everyone.

As a recent college graduate with little to no expenses I found myself with a small nest egg and absolutely zero direction. My money was rotting away in a lowest interest savings account.

After reading many financial/investing books I feel like I have found the one that gives direction, realistic goals, and options. This book is honest and easy to understand. It teaches the power of combining indexing with compounding.

I recommend this to all that are new to investing. If you are an experienced investor you might find the book is a bit basic but keep in mind how much information the writers packed into this book.

Brian Campbell

As a recent college graduate with little to no expenses I found myself with a small nest egg and absolutely zero direction. My money was rotting away in a lowest interest savings account.

After reading many financial/investing books I feel like I have found the one that gives direction, realistic goals, and options. This book is honest and easy to understand. It teaches the power of combining indexing with compounding.

I recommend this to all that are new to investing. If you are an experienced investor you might find the book is a bit basic but keep in mind how much information the writers packed into this book.

Brian Campbell

I never knew investing books could be so well written in a simple to understand manner. The authors did a fantastic job at covering a wide variety of investment options and the pros and cons of each one of them. The most enlightening chapters were about how index funds were important and how costs, taxes & fees mattered in affecting the bottomline. They also suggested sample investment portfolios based on various age group categories to simplify things. The book simplifies and presents a no non-sense view of the basic steps one has to follow while investing. I was impressed to see the authors cover some additional topics like getting life insurance, the importance of having a will etc, which was an added bonus.

I only wish I had read some book like this 5 years back but it is not too late even now. At the end of reading this book, I am definitely a much better informed investor and am convinced that a simple common sense approach and a little research is all it takes to make anyone a decent investor.

If you are new to investing and are baffled by hundreds of investment options available around you, just go and buy this book rightaway...I should warn you that this book is not for short-term investors who like to time the market but for buy-and-hold investors only.

I would say this is a good book for beginners. For someone with some understanding of investing and personal finance, it is likely that you will spend more time agreeing with the authors than actually learning anything new or insightful. It is a good overview of the investment ideas of John Bogle and his supporters, and has decent coverage of how to approach financial goals throughout one's lifetime. But after reading it, I felt like I did not gain any original insights, other than to ponder whether I should get my family an umbrella insurance policy. On the other hand, great books from Malkiel, Swensen, Swedroe, and W. Bernstein absolutely provided me with much material and original insights to ponder and consider.

So if this is not very helpful for readers with some investment knowledge, how is the book for novice? I would say it is merely decent. A novice reading this book would be pretty much following the advice of John Bogle, who is no question a GREAT man. But the authors seem to be constrained to agree with Bogle on everything, and do not allow themselves to further explore areas that probably deserve more time. One example would be Bogle's views on international stocks, where the authors of this book tread very lightly and conclude by agreeing with Bogle (almost seemingly hesitantly). When reading Bogle's own writings, his strong opinions serve his readers well. But when his ideas are rewritten into a broader personal investment guide for novices, I feel like the result is inferior to books by Frank Armstrong, William Bernstein, or Larry Swedroe, which seem to provide a broader perspective to help investors make decisions.

This is a pretty good book and has good advice on personal finance. But it is hard for me to get as excited as the other reviewers on this site. I think 3 stars is fair, as it is above average.

I read this book when it came out last year and I must say in a single year it has changed my financial life forever. Although I don't invest in Vanguard funds, a favorite of the authors, I have found low cost index investing the way to go (if you are in education or non-profit world, TIAA-CREF offers some really good low cost index fund alternatives). I am healthier and wealthier for reading this book. You will too!

This is an outstanding book on investing, I only wish it had been available 25 or 30 years ago. It is now my favorite gift to friends and family members.

Larry G

The book is about the merits of index funds and how you could use some simple strategies to benefit from the market growth.

If you do not want to invest your time researching and monitoring individual stocks then management funds are the way to go. The book points out hard facts and evidence that you are by a large chance, better off buying into index funds than the fancy management funds in the long term. Less than 80% of the all funds can beat S&P500 over 10 years, think you are lucky enough to be in the 20%? Or would you rather play the percentage game and reduce your risk?

While this book is not for everyone, it is a great read on a good strategy, one that won't get you rich but will get you much better off than most of the individual stock investors.

The bad point (or a good point if you are interested) is that the book goes off track to tell you how to save money and adjust your spending habits etc. That is the only reason I minus a star (more like half star), stay focus!

Very basic but good. Definitely for the beginner is why I give it a three star.

This is a very informative book on investing. Taylor and Mel has helped thousands of investors on the "Vanguard Diehards" forum at MorningStar web site. This book is their effort translating their investing experience, and distilling into a form that is very readable to the common investors.

The Bogleheads represent an investing movement that represents the self-learned investors who are knowledgeable and confident, who can resist the half baked pitches of stock brokers.

I have read several great investment books, but this has been the best. It is a must-read for those that really want to understand intelligent investing.

Most people don't have time to read dozens of books about personal finance and investing. Even if people did have that much time, they would seldom be able to integrate what different authors had to say into a consistent approach.

For several decades, people have been asking me what one book they could read to be more successful with their personal finances. Until now, I've been reluctant to pick any one book. Instead, I would usually provide a list of 6-8.

Having read The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, I can now safely recommend one book for the first time: This one!

Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer and Michael LeBouef have five important advantages over other personal finance authors:

1. They are experienced investors.
2. They are well read on the subject of personal finance.
3. They've been answering questions for years from those who want to know what to do on Morningstar Vanguard forum and its related site, diehards.org
4. They are an expert writing team rather than a writer or celebrity trying to be supported by experts.
5. They aren't trying to sell you anything except their book which makes their advice more independent than usual.

The book's range is impressive. Part I looks at the essential elements of successful investing and includes looking at your financial lifestyle, how to start investing young and regularly, different types of financial instruments, inflation-protected bonds, investing minimums, avoiding complications that lose you money, asset allocation, reducing costs, minimizing and deferring taxes, diversification, market timing, money for college, employing a windfall and whether to retain a financial advisor.

Part II looks at how to track your progress and rebalance assets, staying immune from daily "news" about investing, being in control of your emotions, building up enough money for retirement, asset protection through insurance and estate planning.

The book tackles head on a lot of the bad advice you get about investing, while also being realistic about how much time and effort most of us want to put into financial planning. The tone is friendly, the advice is good and the warnings are appropriate.

What more can you expect from the only personal finance book you'll ever need?

I've been saving for 20 years - The first ten years I discounted my father's "conservative" advice and bought the hot sector funds, stocks and gold coins. I thought I was doing well. Now I'm a little smarter - I see that my returns during the great bull market of the 90's were only single digit, while my father's approach produced far better returns. Now my Dad's advice is common sense to me and I know that I missed-out on a large chunk of the bull market because I thought I knew it all. I should have followed his straight-forward, common sense advice.
Fortunately this does not have to happen to you - My father(and his friends) wrote the book...Its all the advice I wish I had followed during my first ten years of investing.

Many good books have been written on saving and investing but this is one of the best I've read. It is written in simple language and avoids technical jargon that tends to lose readers who are looking for basic knowledge and a plan they can develop and implement. I learned so much that I ordered 12 more copies for close friends. I believe browsing chapters 19 & 23 would be helpful to anyone who might not feel they have the ability to get the most from this book.

I always thought investing was complicated but found it can be a do-it-yourself activity. The Bogleheads' Guide is a winner and I would recommend it to readers of all ages who are struggling with understanding the best and easiest way to save and invest for their future.

Marina Kushner
Author
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

The Bogleheads'Guide is easy to read and can help investing "newbies" develop a plan that works for them (rather than just for investment salespeople). The Guide also contains quite a bit of information of interest to more advanced investors, including an entire section on follow-through strategies to keep you on target (including chapters on tracking progress, keeping your focus, keeping your emotions from undermining your investments, making your money last through retirement, keeping adequate insurance, and passing on your estate). The book is backed up by the "Bogleheads" web site that provides friendly and comprehensive assistance on investment issues and concerns. I have recommended this book to my extended family and recommend it highly!

I was completely blown away by this book. It is easy to read, and has solid advice without any hidden agenda. I have purchased 6 copies so far and given them to family and friends. (My own copy is currently being borrowed by a co-worker.)

It is sad that so many people fail to plan for retirement. They don't have the basic knowledge about investing and for some reason our current education system perpetuates it. A little education goes a long way and I would agree with the person below that this book would make a great gift for your children. It would be especially useful for those in school who will be entering the workforce soon.

I was very impressed with this book and give it an A+. Not only is the investing advice excellent, the writing style is very easy and fun to read.

I have lurked in the back ground and seen the excellent advice the authors give on the Diehards web site each day. Their common sense sound advice is carried over from the web site to this book.

I learned several new things from this book. After concentrating on saving and investing in large cap stock index funds and total bond market index funds for many years, I recently diversified into other small cap, mid cap, and large cap U.S. stock index funds versus just an S&P 500 index fund. I added an allocation to REITs as well.

During this re-allocation, I ran into the problem of trying to keep bond index funds and REITs in tax-deferred versus taxable accounts. I was able to accomplish this, but it won't be long until I need to add more bond and REIT investments to keep my asset allocation correct. I am out of room to add more bond and REIT investments in my tax-deferred accounts.

This book suggested that if you are in this situation, you should consider municipal bonds in taxable accounts due to their potential for escaping both state and federal taxation. I had always "blown off" municipal bonds as not fitting into my investment plans, but now I have definitely put them on my radar screen as a future possibility.

The book also did a good job of explaining the details of rebalancing.

I especially enjoyed a new term I had not seen before, "Financial Pornography". This is all the daily noise one hears from CNBC and the financial magazines about picking stocks or mutual funds to "beat the market".

All-in-all, a great book for serious investors who manage their own portfolios. I would suggest companion books to supplement this book including The Richest Man in Babylon, Bogle on Mutual Funds, The Millionaire Next Door, The 4 Pillars of Investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Life and Beat the Pros, and the Coffeehouse Investor.

I am a fan of John Bogle's so I bought this book. I was impressed by the strength of the reviews.

However, I now realize that most of the reviews were written by friends of the authors. Take that into account when buying the book.

The first review of the book by V. Martinez (who apparently is not a friend of the authors) is dead on. The book is somewhat disorganized and hard to follow. The writing style is dry.

I think there are better books out there for investors.

Just finished reading this great book and it will be sure to become a classic in the investing world. The one thing that really came out at me while reading this book was what a labor of love it was for the authors. They have no hidden agenda or sales pitch. They are all seniors who truly love John "Jack" Boggle and are greatful to him for helping the little guy and seem to be on a mission to do the same for others that he did for them. They have done him proud and themselves as well. Way to go Boggleheads. I am proud to be among your followers. Yes I am drinking the Kool-Aid.

A very practical guide to investing for the do-it-yourself individual -- is there any other way? The plan: follow this book as your Bible and stay the course. Advice: share copies of this book with others (your children).

This book, written in a very readable manner, could be mistakenly considered a book for only beginning investors.
There is a noticeble lack of complicated formulas and confusing charts that often cause one's eyes to glaze over in many investors guides.The concepts, however, are well presented.

When I look at all of the investors that I know, I see commission based advisors, overweighted individual stock portfolios, load mutual funds and 75 year olds with 100% equities. None of these people would consider themselves beginning investors, but I am sure all would benefit from this book

Taylor, Mel, and Michael, have written a book that is of value to almost all investors.They have written this to help people achieve a better financial life. There is no hidden agenda and no services or products to sell. None of the three have jobs in the investment industry. If there is a class in investing in high schools or colleges this book should be the standard text.

Larry Gottlieb

This book instantly gives you 30 years of investing experience. It is very easy to read and understand. The concepts are simple and that is the REAL secret to making money on Wall Street.

As a long-time lurker on the Morningstar forum for Vanguard Diehards (www.diehards.org), I've been picking up tidbits of advice from the authors here and there. It's wonderful to see their knowledge compressed into such a great book -- that is easy to ready, and still full of information.

A great book for any investor to learn about investing the "Boglehead" way.

This book is a must for any investor wanting truth, not hype. The writing is clear, concise and focused. Don't invest until you've digested the wisdom of these chapters. The reading list at the end of the book is most worthwhile as well.

Lorraine Carey

i found book full of valuable information which was easy for the average layman to understand.it is for investors of all ages and gives sample portfolios for those retired as well as those just starting to invest enjoyed it very much and would recommend it wholeheartedly

I think it is a good book for starters. The authors have plenty of experiences in personal investment. It is a good book for starters. However, if you are already professional or experienced, I would not recommend this book because of its lack of background theoretic support.

Again, if you just start investing, this book, or 'common sense of mutual funds', is a good choice.

I have been a follower and a participant on this web-site from which this book comes. Started, I believe, as a result of ordinary people who have tried to accumulate and invest responsibly to protect and insure fianacially what they deem as responsible to produce a positive financial result that protects theirs and there loved ones future. After using the obvious and available financial experts and the various financial instutions, to accomplish this positive result, many found that these so called experts and instutions, that begged trust, turned out to be only concerned about their own profits and had no quaims in not delivering what they promised. These ordinary and responsible people turned to; "If I am going to loose money let it happen by my own hands!". Vanguard and Mr. John Bogle offered the necessary education to promote and incourage trust in investing with Vanguard.

The Boglehead Guide to Investing is an acknowledgement to this source and a complation of over "Eight Years" of conversations, numerious research and questions, to workout "How to be a sucessful independent investor, produce postive results and meet stated goals, and maybe imploy some stragiaties that while accomplishing financial goals allows for sleeping soundly at night.

I belive that anyone with this knowledge applied will sucessful, over time,be able to Retire or meet any and all financial goals.

This book is clearly written and the authors donot write as financial experts, but share lessions and knowledge learned.

I also believe that the Vanguard Group deserves all praise, and should acknowledge this publication and widely advertise it. Maybe, the Vanguard Group should buy out this publication and offer it to current and potential investors.

I highly recommend this book to all ivestors that want to be sucessful.

This book is very well-written and easily comprehensible, even if it is quite basic. Readers looking for anything but a pretty simplistic overview of investing basics will be disappointed. This fundamental approach to investing, of course, is precisely what is advocated by Mr. Bogle and the legions of Bogleheads. The latter 1/3 of the book also gives extremely brief overviews of a myriad of other financial topics, from life insurance to wills and trusts. These brief overviews do not contain enough information to be very useful, but it's a good introduction to the concepts. Overall I do believe that I am a wiser investor after having read this book. Recommended.

This is a great addition to the investment world, and a good read for newbies and experienced investors alike. Hats off the authors for the creative, clear, concise and fun approach! One disappointment is that it doesn't cover anything about couples who aren't married in terms of insurance, trusts, and other financial protections. It would have been nice to see the word "spouse" replaced with "partner," and to read advice that applied to all of us -- not just some of us. In the meantime, this book is virtually guaranteed to help all of us make great investment and related decisions. Read it!

This is one of the most comprehensive, succinct, easy to understand guides I've ever read. I especially liked the information I learned about bonds, estate planning, ways to invest for college and retirement, and ways to minimize the effects of inflation and taxes on investments.

Reading about the hype in the media regarding, "Hey, I've got a hot tip for you"- and to tune out this "noise" was very enjoyable. It was also interesting to read about "behavioral economics" and how emotions effect the way people invest.

Taylor, Mel, and Michael also did an excellent job discussing the importance of having an asset allocation. They explained in detail what each type of investment vehicle is, and the importance of starting early to let the "Magic of Compound Interest" work for you. The understanding of inflation was also stressed, and how it effects purchasing power. This guide also includes a glossary of financial terms, recommended books, and website support regarding investing. If you want to read just one book about investing, this one is right up there as one I would highly recommend.

The dedication to this book says it all in regards to why there are Bogleheads: To John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group

"A man whom we knew from afar for many years but have since come to know and cherish as a friend. While some mutual fund founders chose to make billions, he chose to make a difference."

- Kathleen Ryan

I finished the book this morning and I must say it was an excellent read and refresher. I predict it will become a "must read" for young and novice investors as well as a return/review of basics for "seasoned" investors.

I believe it is very important for experienced investors to occasionally "get back to basics" by reviewing the course we are on, why we are where we are, and where we want to go based on changes that may have occurred since we started the journey. This book fills the bill and I highly recommend it.

After getting my copy of the book promptly about 4 days after I ordered it, I couldn't put it down. The three authors who wrote this book should be commended for their efforts to help others learn about investing. This book is packed full of information for the investor first starting out as well as a 20 year investing veteran. I think a copy of this book should be given to each High School senior at their graduation!! I have purchased 5 copies to hand out to friends & family.

This is the book I wish I'd had when I started feeling pangs of unease about my failure to have any kind of financial/retirement plan. The Bogleheads' Guide steers you right, with absolutely no self-promoting b.s., which is more than I can say for 99% of all books about investing.