When someone as successful as John Bogle attempts to impart knowledge in the form of a book, people ought to listen and heed his advice. This is the man who practically invented the index fund, after all.
While there's much wisdom to be found in The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, the first third to half of the book is dedicated to discussing the sheer arithmetic of how actively managed funds eat away investors' gains: fees, taxes, and all. I cast no doubts on the value of these discussions, particularly to readers for whom the topic of index fund investing is novel in its entirety. That said, this first part could have been significantly shortened without much loss to its value, if at all.
After tackling the disadvantageous arithmetic of actively managed funds, Bogle dedicates a few more chapters to drive his point home and details how these funds consistently fail to match the returns of the index.
Two-thirds into the book, commentaries on and new information about other matters such as investment advisors, bond funds, and ETFs finally surface. Beyond a critical assessment of non-index ETFs, little explanation of the tax differences between long-term index fund and long-term index ETF investing is offered before the book circles back to theme, with a section on what the great Benjamin Graham would have said about index funds promptly following.
For the uninitiated, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing serves as a good resource to explain the how's and why's of index funds. For individuals who have read enough about index funds as to already be invested in them, however, four-fifths of the book may feel little more than one thick advertisement, living up to "The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns" well.
But what about the last few chapters? This is where the earlier-mentioned "much wisdom" enters the equation, with Bogle providing timeless insights on assembling portfolios, building them efficiently, customizing them for retirement, and a myriad other ideas that can only come with maturity and experience. For these alone and despite all my ramblings above, I recommend alloting space in one's collection and a few hours of one's time for this book.
Hai and Terrie