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  • The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

  • The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns, 10th Anniversary Edition
  • Written by: John C. Bogle
  • Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
  • Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (372 ratings)

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The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Written by: John C. Bogle
Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
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Publisher's Summary

The best-selling investing "bible" offers new information, new insights, and new perspectives 

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is the classic guide to getting smart about the market. Legendary mutual fund pioneer John C. Bogle reveals his key to getting more out of investing: low-cost index funds. Bogle describes the simplest and most effective investment strategy for building wealth over the long term: buy and hold, at very low cost, a mutual fund that tracks a broad stock market Index such as the S&P 500. 

While the stock market has tumbled and then soared since the first edition of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing was published in April 2007, Bogle's investment principles have endured and served investors well. This tenth anniversary edition includes updated data and new information but maintains the same long-term perspective as in its predecessor. Bogle has also added two new chapters designed to provide further guidance to investors: one on asset allocation, the other on retirement investing. 

A portfolio focused on index funds is the only investment that effectively guarantees your fair share of stock market returns. This strategy is favored by Warren Buffett, who said this about Bogle: "For decades, Jack has urged investors to invest in ultra-low-cost index funds.... Today, however, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he helped millions of investors realize far better returns on their savings than they otherwise would have earned. He is a hero to them and to me." 

Bogle shows you how to make index investing work for you and help you achieve your financial goals and finds support from some of the world's best financial minds: not only Warren Buffett but Benjamin Graham, Paul Samuelson, Burton Malkiel, Yale's David Swensen, Cliff Asness of AQR, and many others. 

This new edition of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing offers you the same solid strategy as its predecessor for building your financial future. 

  • Build a broadly diversified, low-cost portfolio without the risks of individual stocks, manager selection, or sector rotation. 
  • Forget the fads and marketing hype, and focus on what works in the real world. 
  • Understand that stock returns are generated by three sources (dividend yield, earnings growth, and change in market valuation) in order to establish rational expectations for stock returns over the coming decade. 
  • Recognize that in the long run, business reality trumps market expectations. 
  • Learn how to harness the magic of compounding returns while avoiding the tyranny of compounding costs. 

While index investing allows you to sit back and let the market do the work for you, too many investors trade frantically, turning a winner's game into a loser's game. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a solid guidebook to your financial future.

©2017 John C. Bogle (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

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What listeners say about The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

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wow what a great book

I'm 69 years old have a nice portfolio I built through the bank but I'm not making any money. that's not true I am making some money but the bank is taking most of it. But not any more I've moved most of my money to Quest trade I'm now investing on my own mostly in index funds and I feel very comfortable im going to do very well all thanks to this one book and help from a good friend. Anyway great book I learned a lot

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  • Don
  • 2019-03-12

Never to late...

I wish I had read this book 10 years ago. This book has changed by perspective on long-term investing and while I still enjoy "trading" I realize that long term steady gains require a simple buy and hold philosophy - and is probably my best strategy for Retirement fund. Picking individual stocks to do this with is not easy (i.e. GE). So the concept of buying the "Market" makes sense, and at the same time avoiding high fees associated with Mutual Funds is a no-brainer. RIP John C. Bogle and Thank you.

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6 people found this helpful

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Necessary reading

This book is important as it teaches you fundamental investment knowledge that financial advisors have an incentive not to. For that reason alone I recommend this book to all investors or would be investors.

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4 people found this helpful

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disappointing

after idolizing buffet and picking one of his must reads, I lost a bit of respect for him. all I got from it was a long commercial for ETFs. contrary to what buffet mentions all the time about only needing a few stocks and to hold for the long term yet ETFs are almost the compete opposite. they mention how fees eat up a person's returns which is a reason not to use Mutual funds but rather to use ETFs which still require a fee compared to no fee equities... I don't get it.

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Very tedious to get through

The writing is uninteresting and repetitive. You hear the phrase “don’t take my word for it” atleast 30 times, could you not have been more creative with different phrases? This book could have been 1h30m and you would have got the exact same information. Overall the information is useful on index funds but you can find this information elsewhere and probably wont want to pull your hair out listening to it.

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Great book!

This is a must-read/listen for anyone who wants to learn about investing. The book is well written, covers important topics, and is really interesting. L. J. Ganser is easy to listen to - it seems like he was meant to read this book. #Audible1

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Fantastic and simple to understand.

a great introduction to index fund investing. no nonsense with real world examples. The accompany pdf is very informative.

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Keep It Simple....

The book is fairly short in listening time and based on simplicity and common sense. The main theme is reiterated throughout it's chapters along with sub themes. Would recommend to the young investor.

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Essential book on index investing

classic book that anyone interested in investing should read. presents a solid argument for passive index investing.

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Simple book, simple strategy. AAA+++

As with most of the "Little book series" Bogoe does a fine job espousing exactly what he's been teaching for decades. A legend in Index Fund investing continues to appeal to the "Common Man" with his tried and true index fund strategy that has afforded many a comfortable retirement.

This is stuff most have heard before but it never hurts to have a refresher.

Short and concise as the little books tend to be.
Good job sir!

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  • Matt
  • 2019-01-31

One star for every point this 5 hour book makes.

Great point but he makes it over and over, at least 200 times in the 5 hours. Buy S&P500, simple funds, not managed. Now you don't need to buy the book.

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  • Mumu
  • 2018-09-06

1 piece of advice repeated for 7 hours straight

The book should be more accurately titled "only buy traditional index funds". the Author only teaches one lesson in the entire book and spends the rest of it explaining why he is correct. there are many approaches to financial success however the author leaves no room for doubt, and does not consider any other method to be valuable in any circumstance. this was ultimately a very long book with very little lean content. you learn everything you need to know in the first two chapters everything else is a colossal waste of time.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2018-02-20

Indexing trumps all

Story:
Basically 5 hours of being told that a low cost, low turnover index fund that tracks the S&P 500 is your best bet for long term investment success.

Performance:
Reading books on investing is always super dry. This guy does as good a job as one can to keep you awake.

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  • Eric
  • 2018-03-21

Timeshare Presentation for Vanguard Index Funds

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. This book can be summed up in one sentence, any normal person wanting to invest should do it in a vanguard S&P 500 Index fund.

What was most disappointing about John C. Bogle’s story?

This was written by the person who founded Vanguard group. The entire point of the book is to get people to buy his index funds. Its like reading a timeshare presentation.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of L. J. Ganser?

Sounded like a shady salesmen, but I think that is more fault of the writing.

Who do you think would benefit most from listening to The Little Book of Common Sense Investing?

Those who want to invest for the very long term with little effort as possible. Not a book for those looking to understand stock trading.

Any additional comments?

This book is full of a bias view on Vanguard index funds. Its a timeshare presentation. Now I do agree index funds are great. I will put some of my portfolio into S&P 500 index fund. But I am also planning to get into stock trading. I do plan to put effort into it. This book assumes anyone outside of finance doesnt want to put in any effort into stock trading...nor should they. "Dont take my word for it!" Half the book is this statement followed by some story by some known investor celebrity. To sell the author's company index fund...of course.

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  • Kushal
  • 2018-09-21

Really good info but pretty repetitive.

Bogle makes a very convincing argument on how to invest: via index funds. He spends most of the book explaining why it is the best option. Unless your are very skeptical, you don't need all the extra chapters going in depth. Even if you are skeptical, a lot of it is repition.

I still highly recommend the book for the info.

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  • T. Skinner
  • 2018-02-04

Changing my Ways + you can access the pdf

Where does The Little Book of Common Sense Investing rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Dec 2017 I had meeting with my investment advisor, my wife and I left the meeting and we both conferred (on the car ride home) that he seemed not his usual confident self. In the meeting he was presenting new fund family and investment company. There was some talk of DOL changes to advice regulations. All these factors immediate caused warning alarms in our common sense. Not that we thought he was bad, but made us put the brakes on moving ahead with any of his suggestions immediately. That's when I started asking others and reading and linking to books and authors. John C Bogle investment philosophy rings truest to my gut feeling. I selected this book because it is the Anniversary edition and figured it had the most info as it pertains to updated examples-2017economics-recent political climate. I am glad I have have found this book.Keep a notebook handy. There are a lot of references to other authors that you may want to read. I am going to pour through several other books but I suspect that there's going to be changes made in my investment philosophy. I appreciate John Bogle's life work that it has "waken" this blue collar worker to the reality that.... Arithmetic is the first of the sciences and the mother of safety and that costs makes the difference between investment success and failure.

Any additional comments?

From inside your Audible's Library page (I am on pc-not a mobile app) look in the Title column - You will see a hyper-link with the title of the book, look just below the title for "PDF", click on that link and it will open up the accompanying .pdf referred throughout the book.

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  • bryan
  • 2018-01-15

Great book for anyone interested in investing

Everything in the book is great and with my research on investing beforehand this book confirmed my suspicions.

Audible where is the PDF!?!?

I’ll be buying a copy as a gift for a few people.

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  • Bryan
  • 2020-12-09

Accurately Titled Book

In short, do it yourself. Don't waste your time or money working with actively managed funds and their costly fund managers. Stick with index funds and play the long game. If this strategy works for you and you want to know more then read the book.

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  • Korey M. Bell
  • 2020-10-10

Arguably the Greatest Book on Index Investing of all Time

John C. Bogle is a legend for a reason, and this book is nothing short of amazing. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a must read for recent college graduates working their first job and individuals who are still invested in fee based mutual funds which carry expensive management fees.

The cost of traditional mutual funds is one of this book’s two central themes. The other is both the logic and/or wisdom in index investing; Mr. Bogle spares no opportunity throughout to prove this point. Other topics discussed are exchange traded funds, asset allocation, and the value of buying and holding.

What sets this book apart from other investment classics such as the Intelligent Investor, One up on Wall Street, Beat the Street, etc. is its focuses on index investing. As such, it is an invaluable financial read and it belongs in every investor’s personal library.


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  • Hjortur
  • 2017-12-26

Where is the PDF file?

What disappointed you about The Little Book of Common Sense Investing?

I was excited to read this updated version with new numbers, but the PDF file is missing. Not the Authors problem, he is excellent. Bad quality at Audible :-(

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing?

Half way through, will complete it when I get the PDF.

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