Money Market Funds
Bond Funds
Stock Funds
Step 3: Actively Managed Funds, Index Funds, or Some of Each?
10 It's What You Keep That Counts
The Lowdown on Lower Costs
Costs: Are You Leaving Too Much on the Table?
Examine Fund Expense Ratios
“But It's Just a Few Percentage Points …”
You Can Look It Up
Putting Costs in Perspective
Be Aware of Transaction Costs Paid by the Fund
Taxes Are Costs, Too
Resist the Temptation to Trade Frequently
Choose Tax-Efficient Funds
Use Taxable and Tax-Advantaged Accounts Wisely
11 Risk: Give It the Gut Test
Your Investment Risk
Duration: A Risk Measure for Bonds
A Simple Way to Check a Fund's Past Volatility
The Gut Test
Measuring Your Risk Tolerance
Managing Investment Risk
12 Some Advice on Financial Advice
When to Seek Help
Assessing Your Needs for Advice
Finding the Right Financial Help
Assessing the Cost/Value Trade-Off of Advice
Making a Choice
10 PART III: MANAGE YOUR INVESTMENTS WITH FOCUS AND DISCIPLINE 13 Buy-and-Hold Really Works Developing the Buy-and-Hold Habit You Will Be Tempted to Abandon Your Buy-and-Hold Strategy Why Frequent Trading Doesn't Work The Unpredictability of the Financial Markets The Cost Penalty Why Market-Timing Doesn't Work 14 Time Is Everything Make Time Your Ally Time Is Your Ally How to Make Up for Lost Time 15 Routine Maintenance for Your Portfolio Your Personal Situation Rebalancing a Portfolio Why Rebalance? To Tame the Risk Monster When to Rebalance The Tax Monster Joins the Risk Monster Rebalancing Takes Discipline Keep Things Simple How to Clean Up a Messy Portfolio Note 16 Stupid Math Tricks for Smart Investors
11 PART IV: STAY ON COURSE 17 “It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” Speculative Bubbles Tulipmania A Modern Gold Rush The Dot-com Bubble Some Commonalities among Manias How to Protect Yourself from Speculative Manias 18 Why You May Be Your Own Worst Enemy Being Overconfident About Your Own Abilities Allowing the Current Environment to Blind You to the Larger Context Thinking You See a Pattern Where None Exists Focusing Too Much on Short-Term Losses Feeling Compelled to Do Something—Anything Letting False Reference Points Distort Your View of Value Remembering Things Selectively How to Foil Your Own Worst Enemy What's the Lesson? 19 Bear Markets Will Test Your Resolve Some Background on Bear Markets How Does a Bear Market Feel? Very Scary The Lesson of Balance and Diversification (Again) Bearing
