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.

54 people found this helpful

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.

52 people found this helpful

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.

78 people found this helpful

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.

16 people found this helpful

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.

36 people found this helpful

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.

4 people found this helpful

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.

3 people found this helpful

Deeper dive on index funds

Good overall narration of index fund and how a investor needs to maintain disciple while investing

3 people found this helpful

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.

10 people found this helpful

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.

10 people found this helpful