Investing is all about common sense. Owning a diversified portfolio of stocks & holding it for the long term is a winner's game. Trying to beat the stock market is theoretically a zero-sum game (for every winner there must be a loser) but after the substantial costs of investing are deducted it becomes a loser's game. Common sense tells us-and history confirms-that the simplest & most efficient investment strategy is to buy & hold all of the nation's publicly held businesses at very low cost. The classic index fund that owns this market portfolio is the only investment that guarantees you with your fair share of stock market returns. To learn how to make index investing work for you there's no better mentor than legendary mutual fund industry veteran John C. Bogle. Over the course of his long career Bogle-founder of the Vanguard Group & creator of the world's first index mutual fund-has relied primarily on index investing to help Vanguard's clients build substantial wealth. Now with The Little Book of Common Sense Investing he wants to help you do the same. Filled with in-depth insights & practical advice The Little Book of Common Sense Investing will show you how to incorporate this proven investment strategy into your portfolio. It will also change the very way you think about investing. Successful investing is not easy. (It requires discipline & patience.) But it is simple. For it's all about common sense. With The Little Book of Common Sense Investing as your guide you'll discover how to make investing a winner's game:* Why business reality-dividend yields & earnings growth-is more important than market expectations* How to overcome the powerful impact of investment costs taxes & inflation* How the magic of compounding returns is overwhelmed by the tyranny of compounding costs* What expert investors & brilliant academics-from Warren Buffett & Benjamin Graham to Paul Samuelson & Burton Malkiel-have to say about index investing* & much more You'll also find warnings about investment fads & fashions including the recent stampede into exchange traded funds & the rise of indexing gimmickry. The real formula for investment success is to own the entire market while significantly minimizing the costs of financial intermediation. That's what index investing is all about. & that's what this book is all about. JOHN C. BOGLE is founder of the Vanguard Group Inc. & President of its Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He created Vanguard in 1974 & served as chairman & chief executive officer until 1996 & senior chairman until 2000. In 1999 Fortune magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the four Investment Giants" of the twentieth century; in 2004 Time named him one of the world's 100 most powerful & influential people & Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award."