The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

By: John C. Bogle

Narrated by: Thom Pinto

Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

John C. Bogle's The Little Book of Index Investing is a power-packed explanation of why outperforming the market is an investor illusion. Instead, the founder of The Vanguard Group—the man who's been called "the conscience of the investment industry"*—recommends a simple, time-tested investment strategy that can deliver the greatest return to the greatest number of investors: indexing. Why? Investing is a zero-sum game where transaction costs, taxes, poor investment diversification, and poor market-timing (an affliction for most investors) hurts your portfolio more than it helps. Indexing eliminates that hurt. Bottom-line, if you can't be an index, why not invest in one? And you'll be all the happier and richer for it.
*Time Magazine

©2007 John C. Bogle (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

“John C. Bogle...has the mind of an economist and the personality of a preacher.” —The Washington Post

“Bogle is rattling the status quo among the mutual fund titans.” —Fortune

I am officially a Boglehead... :)

If you could sum up The Little Book of Common Sense Investing in three words, what would they be?

Indexing is the way to go when investing is not your primary source of income

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

Learning who John Bogle is...

Which scene was your favorite?

This is a great book alltogether

What did you learn from The Little Book of Common Sense Investing that you would use in your daily life?

Don't try to beat the market, join the market, as suggetsed by the "simple rules of humble arithmetic"

Very clear cut and not as dry as other beginning i

Very clear cut and not as dry as other beginning investment books. Some repetition in content, mostly to drive home the importance of index investment. Would recommend to anyone starting out.

Only Book You Need on Investing

I've been using index and ETFs for the past decade or more as the backbone of my portfolio. So I already knew many of the benefits. John Bogle's book made me see that I really shouldn't play around with sector ETFs and it simpler and more productive to just buy the overall market index. As some have said the book does get somewhat repetitive, however, it is much needed advice and really helped me focus on how I want to invest in the future. His references to other impressive investors and experts who believe as he does is also amazing. Overall, it really is a tour de force on how to invest safely and intelligently. I recommended it to all my family members.

Will change your view on investing

Great book. Will change your view on investing. Narrator is fantastic too. I didn't know that 3/4th of active mutual funds will not beat the index over time...

Simple and Actionable

This book is wonderful for the entry level investor.
I am not one who has the time nor the desire to actively manage my investment portfolio regularly, so I was looking for a path that could reap me rewards while I carry on my life. This book provides that path.
With many reputable investors taking stock in this book as well as the simplistic principles provided by it, I am sure that anyone who wants to know how to start investing will need to look no further than here.

Nailed it

If not a bit biased, this is the best advice and information I have received on investing

Explains well indexing of stocks and bonds

Liked the book, yes it’s completely about indexing. But it’s not possible to replace the whole book with some summaries like “buy low cost index funds”, they don’t explain why. The book explains why and how indexing works, has a lot of references to other people (Graham and Buffet and many others). Has some practical advice about your portfolio (at the end). It’s recommended in a lot of places starting with reddit and ending with Buffet

Ps I took one star out of the performance section because it has some details which makes listening much harder, e.g. in some examples when they compare differences it would be much simpler to comprehend something like “approach A gives you less than 96 thousand when B more than 135” instead of “A gives you 95, 543 when B 135, 847”. But overall it’s much easier to listen to than “the intelligent Investor”

Great book for retirement investing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely, the best book on investing ever written.

Who was your favorite character and why?

John Bogle, the patron saint of investing.

Any additional comments?

Great book on how to grow wealth cheaply and effectively via plain vanilla index fund.

Solid message

Very convincing and on point w/ arguments. Only gets a bit too repetitive but is able to stress the counterintuitive simplicity of investing

Repetitive but Very Good

Some of the other reviewers are right; the book could be summarized in 30 minutes. That said, I've listened to it three times and during these crazy economic times it is sort of reassuring. Yes, you can beat the market but, no, it isn't likely that you will. This book helps you understand why and it might also make you less hungry for outsized returns. A good listen.