Ori [Wiley] The Bogleheads' Guide To Investing, 2Nd Edition

The Bogleheads Guide to Investing is a wonderful, witty, and wise book. Largely because our financial markets are essentially closed systems in which an advantage garnered by a given investor comes at the disadvantage of the other investors in the same market, the authors recognize this eternal truth: As a group, we investors are inevitably average, so beating the market is a zerosum game. Importantly, they note that relying on the typical common sense approaches that apply to most of life s challenges is destined to leave you poorer. In this update, the Bogleheads author team warns against following life principles: 1) If you don t know how to do something . . . hire an expert. 2) You get what you pay . 3) If there s a crisis, take action 4) The best predictor of future permance is past permance. In short, the principles that work in most aspects of our daily lives simply lead to failure in investing. Understanding that contrarian wisdom is the first step toward investment success. But if that warning is both precisely accurate and grandly counterintuitive, the basic thrust of The Boglehead s Guide to Investing is both precisely accurate and grandly intuitive. Choose a sound financial lifestyle. Start early and invest regularly. Know what you re buying. Preserve your buying power. Keep costs and taxes low. Diversify your stock portfolio [and diversify your stock risk with a bond portfolio]. This edition also includes a revised eword by Jack Bogle.