Denton County Living Well Magazine September/October 2017 | Page 38

The Intelligent Investor
“Learn every day, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” — John C. Bogle
What Experts Say About “The Three Fund Portfolio”
American Association of Individual Investors: “It should come as no surprise that behavioral finance research makes a
strong case for buying and holding low-cost, broadly diversified index funds.”
Mark Balasa, CPA, CFP: “That three-pronged approach is going to beat the vast majority of the individual stock and bond
portfolio that most people have at brokerage firms. There is a certain elegance in the simplicity of it.”
Christine Benz, Morningstar Director of Personal Finance: “It’s hard to find fault with the “three-fund portfolio” espoused by
many Bogleheads.”
Bill Bernstein, author of The Four Pillars of Investing: “Does this (three fund) portfolio seem overly simplistic, even ama-
teurish? Get over it. Over the next few decades, the overwhelming majority of all professional investors will not be able to
beat it.”
Jack Bogle, “The beauty of owning the market is that you eliminate individual stock risk, you eliminate market sector risk,
and you eliminate manager risk.” -- “The odds of outpacing an all-market index fund are, well, terrible.”
Warren Buffett, famed investor: “I’d rather be certain of a good return than hopeful of a great one. -- Most investors are bet-
ter off putting their money in low-cost index funds.”
Scott Burns, financial columnist: “The odds are really, really poor than any of us will do better than a low-cost broad index
fund.”
Jonathan Burton, MarketWatch: “There are plenty of ways to complicate investing, and plenty of people who stand to make
money from you as a result. So just think of a three-fund strategy as something you won’t have to think about too much.”
Jonathan Clements, author and Wall Street Journal columnist: “Using broad-based index funds to match the market is,
I believe, brilliant in its simplicity.” -- “You can build a great portfolio with just three index funds: a U.S. total stock market
fund, an international fund that buys both developed and emerging stock markets, and a high-quality U.S. bond fund.
Laura Dugu, co-author of The Bogleheads’ Guide to Retirement Planning: “With only these three funds in your investment
portfolio you can benefit from low costs and broad diversification and still have a portfolio that is easy to manage.”
Rick Ferri, Forbes columnist and author of six investment books: “The older I get, the more I believe the 3-fund portfolio is
an excellent choice for most people”
Graham/Zweig, authors of The Intelligent Investor: “The single best choice for a lifelong holding is a total stock-market
index fund.”
Hulbert Financial Digest: “Buying and holding a broad-market index fund remains the best course of action for most inves-
tors.”
Sheldon Jacobs, author of No-Load Fund Investing: “The best index fund for almost everyone is the Total Stock Market
Index Fund.--The fund can only go wrong if the market goes down and never comes back again, which is not going to hap-
pen.”
Kiplinger’s Retirement Report: “You’ll beat most investors with just three funds that cover the vast majority of global stock
and bond markets: Vanguard Total Stock Market; Vanguard Total International Stock Index and Vanguard Total Bond Mar-
ket Index.”
Prof. Burton Malkiel, author of Random Walk Down Wall Street: “I recommend a total-maket index fund--one that follows
the entire U.S. stock market. And I recommend the same approach for the U.S. bond market and international stocks.”
Money 101: “If you don’t want to leave your stock and bond allocations up to someone else, you can build a low cost port-
folio that own most of the global market with just three funds. A “total stock market” index fund will hold over 3000 stocks,
ranging from small companies to established corporate giants. Round that out with an international index fund to cover
foreign holdings, and bond index fund.”
Motley Fools: “Invest your long-term moolah in index mutual funds that are designed to track the performance of a
broad market index.”
Suzy Orman: “One of my favorite index funds, Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTSAX), has a total expense ratio of
0.06%”