Straight Talk on Investing

The Vanguard Group is the world’s second-biggest mutual fund company, and author Jack Brennan is its chairman and CEO. When this book was published, Vanguard had 15 million shareholders and approximately $600 billion under management. Vanguard pioneered index funds, a type of investment that aims to reflect, not beat, the returns of the market. Because Vanguard does not pay fund managers to outguess the market, it can keep fund fees and expenses low. This economy is one of its primary assets. Brennan’s book, written with Marta McCave, recapitulates sound principles of long-term investing in a straightforward, user-friendly way and details numerous kinds of investments. He does not tell you how to strike it rich in the markets or discover the next Microsoft or recognize unusual patterns in price charts. Better yet, he tells you how to build wealth the unexciting but generally reliable way: slowly, carefully and dispassionately. getAbstract recommends this excellent book to those who don’t want to get rich quick, but who would be very content to get rich eventually. Warning: this book is not for the greedy.