Review by Patricia S. Larimore for Common Sense on Mutual Funds: Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition
Rating:
I read Jack Bogle’s first book, “Bogle on Mutual Funds” in 1994. It changed my investing life forever–and for the better. We often say: “We live in the house that Jack Built.”

I have read all of Mr. Bogle’s books and learned from every one. He is a gifted writer with an unequaled background in investing. Fortune magazine designated him as one of the investment industry’s four “Giants of the 20th Century.” He instituted the first index mutual fund which became the largest mutual fund in the world, and he also founded the only mutual fund owned by its shareholders (Vanguard).

“Common Sense on Mutual Funds (updated) is actually, two books in one. It is his first edition written 10-years ago with charts and data completely updated. In addition, throughout the book, is Jack’s commentary on the many changes that have taken place during the past 10 years and how it relates to what he wrote in the original edition. I found it notable that the common sense advice Mr. Bogle dispensed in the first book has stood the test of time remarkably well.

“Common Sense on Mutual Funds–Fully Updated” deserves a place on the bookshelf of every serious investor.

Review by Kirk A. Greenwood for Common Sense on Mutual Funds: Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition
Rating:
Jack Bogle has produced a real monster of a resource this time! This greatly expanded volume (some 650 pages in all!) has all the verve and audacity of a work you’d expect from industry rogue, Bogle, and is jampacked with new information and updated statistics that help to make his message seem more relevant now than ever before. In the Preface to the 10th Anniversary Edition, Bogle addresses the recent upheaval in the markets in the context of his time-tested formula for ensuring the integral, health of investors’ portfolios and posting consistent gains over the long haul. Bogle’s investment philosophy emphasizes the importance of maintaining a streamlined portfolio that relies on stock indexing and conservative, long-range predictions regarding growth.

Avoiding the kind of I-told-you-so rhetoric that many readers may find off-putting in these difficult times, Bogle diplomatically explains how recent trends in the markets confirm the advantages of owning a highly diversified portfolio managed according to certain intelligent investment principles, which he has termed the 12 Pillars of Wisdom. He gives hope to investors who may have made some wrong turns or were misled during the housing boom by offering them a practical plan for how to get their investments back on the right track.

Bogle’s game has always been mutual funds–he’s one of the originators and foremost experts in America on this unique investment type. In the ten years since the original publication of Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor and the 35 years since he founded the Vanguard Group, John C. Bogle has remained the one constant an industry where fortunes and reputations are made and lost practically overnight. This 10th Anniversary Edition explains why mutual funds continue to be effective financial instruments that work by leveraging the combined buying power of a large pool of investors and equitably distributing gains and losses among the ownership pool. Bolge points out which types of mutual funds to add to your portfolio and which to stay away from based on their proven track records of long-range durability. In an insightful final section titled “On Spirit,” Bogle offers actionable solutions for dealing with a market that operates according to principles of instability that mirror those of human psychology. Bogle’s investment philosophy is perfect for the risk-averse investor, which, let’s face it, is pretty much everyone these days.

Another pertinent investment strategy book published this year, which captures the DIY spirit of the John C. Bogle’s “Common Sense on Mutual Funds” is Thomas C. Scott’s Fasten Your Financial Seatbelt: What A Fatal Plane Crash Taught Me About Retirement Planning. This guide articulates an investment game plan similar to Bogle’s. It has the added advantage of being is a quick and easy read, especially when compared with Bogle’s more ponderous tome.

Review by Neal A. Clark for Common Sense on Mutual Funds: Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition
Rating:
John (Jack) Bogle’s Common Sense on Mutual Funds is a must read and with the updated data, Mr. Bogle’s wise words of wisdom have been confirmed that Index Investing does pay off in the long run. God Bless you Jack in preaching common sense. We are forever indebted to you.

Review by mpozner for Mutual Funds For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))
Rating:
After having read many mutual fund books over the last 7 years, this one cuts through the complexity to give you down to earth suggestions you can use. He names funds to buy and some not to buy. He clearly explains the impact of low operating expenses on total return. He is not afraid to criticize financial newsletters and the Morningstar rating system (it has not done very well in predicting future performance). Best mutual fund book I have read.

Review by Jeffery Steele for Mutual Funds For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))
Rating:
This book is an excellent guide to the world of mutual funds. Eric Tyson does a service to beginning investors by steering them towards the modest goal of getting the same return as the market by investing in low-fee, low turnover mutual funds (preferably index funds).Tyson covers nearly everything in this book, from how to build a portfolio, to what returns you can reasonably expect, to where to buy the funds. He covers stock funds, bond funds, and money market funds, and shows how you can evaluate them. He does all of this in easy-to-read prose.

I have one small complaint about the book. If Tyson is not paid by Vanguard, he should be. I can understand that given its dedication to low cost and its unique corporate structure among brokerages, Vanguard might be the best place around to buy mutual funds, but Tyson should have made a point to back off just a bit on highlighting the company so egregiously to avoid the appearance of being the company’s shill. But despite this small lapse, I believe Tyson has the best interests of people who want to make a little money for retirement, their children’s education, or some other modest goal, but aren’t comfortable speculating. He encourages that healthy skepticism towards their ability to make a quick buck and instead teaches them to invest in a way they can have reasonable confidence — instead of an irrational exuberance — that they will get the expected return on their money.