{"id":407954,"date":"2026-01-15T03:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/407954\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T03:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:29:07","slug":"vanguard-icon-jack-bogles-4-simple-investing-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/407954\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanguard Icon Jack Bogle\u2019s 4 Simple Investing Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to make investing complicated to generate long-term returns. Vanguard founder Jack Bogle advocated for keeping investing simple with low-cost funds.<\/p>\n

People in their fifties \u2014 who are often inching closer to retirement \u2014 may be afraid of making mistakes that jeopardize their savings. Following Bogle\u2019s investing advice helps minimize risk and costs while still seeing growth in your portfolio. Here are his rules you can use to continue building your nest egg.<\/p>\n

1. Own the haystack, not the needle<\/p>\n

Looking for individual stocks can be akin to finding a needle in a haystack. You can do a lot of digging and still not end up with the stocks that will soar after you invest. Owning the haystack is a lot less risky and still results in solid long-term returns.<\/p>\n

Think of the haystack as a collection of diversified stocks, like the S&P 500. It\u2019s a broad market index that gives investors exposure to 500 of the largest U.S. companies. The S&P 500 has produced an average annual return of around 10% historically. That\u2019s enough to beat inflation, and build wealth to support your retirement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible to earn a higher return by picking individual stocks. However, it\u2019s very difficult to outperform the market \u2014 and you expose yourself to the risk of having all your eggs in just a few baskets.<\/p>\n

Gold Offer: Sign up with American Hartford Gold today and get a free investor kit, plus receive up to $20,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Keep costs low<\/p>\n

Bogle emphasized the importance of low expense ratios and trading costs because fees can quietly chip away at your net worth. A 1% expense ratio may sound small, but that\u2019s an extra $10,000 someone has to pay each year on $1 million in their portfolio. A 0.10% expense ratio only results in $1,000 in annual fees for the same net worth.<\/p>\n

Index funds are generally cheaper than actively-managed funds, and over the long term, many index funds outperform their actively-managed counterparts.<\/p>\n

Save Smarter: Take control of your money with the Rocket Money budgeting app, one of Money’s favorites<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Stay the course through market noise<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that the creator of index funds was strongly against trying to time the market and chase momentum stocks. If investors chase soaring stocks, they risk buying high to avoid missing out and then selling low once the rally fades. Investors who only buy a stock because it is rallying may fail to understand the fundamentals, which can result in significant trading costs and realized losses.<\/p>\n

Reacting to headlines and taking on more risk in a portfolio can be especially detrimental to someone who is over age 50, since their portfolio has less time to recover from market losses than a younger investor’s. Many index investors put a little money into their positions each month with automatic money transfers so remove the emotions from investing.<\/p>\n

Extra Money: See how you can get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new active SoFi invest account<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Match risk to age and horizon<\/p>\n

Many investors become more risk-averse as they get older. Stocks are still important for growth, but diversifying into bonds can minimize volatility and provide steady cash flow. Bogle recommended an age-based bond\/stock allocation. There are several ways rules of thumb that implement this, including to subtract your age from 120 to determine your stock allocation.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that rules of thumb are just general guidelines that may need some tweaking, depending on your circumstances. However, they offer a good starting point for determining your optimal allocation, especially since it is important to adjust your portfolio as your age to align with your changing time horizon, goals and risk tolerance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":{"0":"post-407954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-personal-finance","10":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}