John C. Bogle Books

The story of the mutual fund industry is, in many ways, a story of American capitalism itself. It began as a noble idea—to give everyday investors access to diversified, professionally managed portfolios—and has grown into a colossal enterprise managing trillions of dollars. Yet, along the way, some...

From Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor

Sound investing doesn’t begin with excitement; it begins with understanding. The principles that govern successful investing are neither new nor glamorous. They are timeless truths rooted in arithmetic and human behavior. Diversification is the first of these truths. It is the one free lunch in inv...

From Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor

Every investor who holds stocks, whether directly or through funds, participates in the collective return of the market. Together, we own all the businesses that make up that market, and those businesses generate profits, pay dividends, and create value. In theory, we all share proportionally in tha...

From The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns

Some financial truths are so simple that we overlook them. One of them is what I call the Cost Matters Hypothesis. It’s not a theory; it’s arithmetic. If you pay more for something, you keep less. If you incur fewer costs, you retain more. In investing, costs come in many disguises—management fees, ...

From The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns