2024 the best index funds review

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"A no-nonsense guide to disciplined investing, full of deep insights framed in compelling ways."

—Kirkus Reviews

The financial services industry has a dark secret, one that costs global investors trillions of dollars every year!

This secret quietly drains the investment portfolios and retirement accounts of almost every investor. In 1900, French mathematician Louis Bachelier unwittingly revealed this disturbing fact to the world. Since then, hundreds of academic studies have supported Bachelier’s findings. Unfortunately, investors pay little attention to academics and Nobel laureates.

What is the dark secret? It’s that managers don’t beat markets. In fact, markets outperform managers by a substantial margin over long periods of time. Index Funds: The 12-Step Recovery Program for Active Investors offers overwhelming proof of this and shows investors how to obtain optimal rates of return by matching their risk capacity to an appropriate risk exposure. A globally diversified portfolio of index funds is the optimal way to accomplish this.

Most investors continue to embrace an active investing strategy despite the extensive academic research demonstrating its futility. Market timing or speculating on the next winning stock, fund manager, or investment style are all akin to gambling. Below-market returns in investment portfolios and pension accounts are the result of investors gambling with their hard-earned money. This twelve-step program will put active investors on the road to recovery. Each step is designed to bring investors closer to embracing a prudent and sound strategy of buying, holding, and rebalancing an index portfolio.

Index Funds: The 12-Step Recovery Program for Active Investors is the treatment of choice for wayward investors. It has been praised by Jack Bogle, Harry Markowitz, Burton Malkiel, David Booth, Paul Samuelson, and Theodore Aronson, among others. Investment advisor Anders Oldenburg of Seligson & Company nominated the previous version as one of the three “All-Time Greatest Investment Books,” along with the writings of John Bogle and Warren Buffett.

This one-of-a-kind little jewel is an eye-pleasing manifestation of hundreds of studies and decades of research, and it clearly represents Hebner’s ongoing commitment to educate investors throughout the world. It is destined to emerge as the go-to handbook for intelligent, evidence-based investing.

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballast Books (October 8, 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 401 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1962202798
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1962202794
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.12 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.8 x 7 inches
Reviewer: Benjamin Ramsey
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: If you are more interested in Truth than Hype, if you want to keep more of your money and send less to Wall Street tycoons...
Review: UPDATED NOTES JUNE 2015- Love the new edition!- Retouched and rewritten all over the place, not just a couple of charts, not just one new section as some other "updated" books do. Minor improvements and notes have been added in such places as the introduction, every chapter, many charts and diagrams, and almost any place where recent dates are involved right up through Jan 2015.- More recent examples in the media are alluded to, such as the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" and Warren Buffett's 2014 letter to shareholders.- A glance through the Index in the back shows references to many newer studies and articles dating well into 2014.- Long term returns data through year-end 2013 are the norm, sometimes even more recent, and that really helps put the crash of '08 into better perspective, having a good number of years of "bounce-back" afterwards.- As expected, all recent developments and updated studies serve to reinforce and prove accurate the principles and conclusions of previous book editions.- And it's not just updated data, but very many segments have been rewritten or changed altogether for improved clarity and illustration.- Interestingly, some of the improvements are in the form of historical documents, such as a new section highlighting an artistic Dutch copper engraving dating back to 1720 which portrays the fates of investors caught up in the heavy market speculation of the day.- There are some new original paintings, including, for example, a depiction of true manager alpha being as hard to find as unicorns, Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster.ORIGINAL REVIEW MARCH 2014PROS:- Heavily researched TRUTH (not just typical Wall Street pseudo-plausibility as a sales tactic)- Tons of colorful and intuitive charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, and other graphics to really SHOW the facts- Interesting (and beautiful in my opinion) original artworks throughout- Lots and lots of academic research to back up claims - and those guys are in it for the facts, not for sales commissions- A quick read, not too "heavy" or long as many financial texts can be (sorry "Random Walk", you're good, but, oh man...)- Great tongue-in-cheek humor throughout- It's a breath of fresh air for advisors interested in doing what's RIGHT instead of what most of dishonest Wall Street does- Helps illustrate why using an advisor is really in your best interest - just like a personal trainer, you'll get better resultsCONS:- Artwork is on the small almost pocket sized pages of this shrunken down book, I'd love to see it full-size- No 2014 version available (yet!)As a young new idealistic financial advisor in-training, I want to do it right. I want to help my clients understand the true nature of market pricing.When you try to outsmart the market, you're not just up against the average investor, oh no, you're up against the grand collective meta-genius of millions of highly motivated and very smart investors, fund managers, wall street analysts, high-end advisors, hedge fund tycoons, and more. It's like betting you can outsmart God. You might get lucky a few times, and if you're susceptible to the common human foibles of psychology, you might start to think you really are smarter.Read this book and buffer yourself against the lure of beating the market. Read these chapters of thoroughly research-backed wisdom, and no longer be fooled or tempted by Wall Street brokers, commissioned advisors, and other salesmen who would deceive you (and themselves) into thinking there is a shortcut to quick compounding. If you fall into that trap, you'll pay more in fees and gain less in growth, as your brokerage slowly transfers your wealth right out from under your nose and into their coffers. Their careers are on the line, so they will lie, cheat, twist, and otherwise put lipstick on the pig of active investing. Don't fall for it.Index Funds should be read by anyone with any money, and anyone who thinks they will ever have any money. I hope that includes you.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good book
Review: Excellent - despite being an advertisement for DFA / IFA - it is the best quick easy read to get a footing on how to invest in the market. Lots of quotes and charts to hammer home the point that trying to beat the market by any number of methods is almost certainly doomed to failure, albeit with occasional winning streaks - but the chance of sustaining a "special method" - no matter how smart you think you are - is very small.

Reviewer: Curt
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: convincing
Review: Makes a convincing case... though like others have said, does sometimes "advertise" DF advisors. Nevertheless, a solid read and good corrective.

Reviewer: Glenn Gay
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: He has good arguments, but his condescending attitude is a turn off.
Review: How can an author be so correct in his analysis of buy and hold of index funds vs. short term trading, and at the same time work so hard to inspire his intended audience to close the book.His assessment of index funds vs. short term trading is spot on, so I can't argue with that or his personal success. What bugs me is his use of sarcasm, condescension, and copious use of original artwork to help the wayward trader to take his 12 step program to investing recovery. I finally stopped reading the book and switched to a book by John Bogle instead.

Reviewer: Tom B.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The 12-step concept makes this book special
Review: I was expecting yet another book on the evils of actively managed funds, but the layout of the book in the 12 steps format was enlightening. Each chapter corresponds to one of the 12 steps, which made me more eager to get to the next chapter. The supporting charts and drawings throughout the book were useful and vibrant with color. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book. Because this book is so well organized, it is quite easy to go back to using it as a reference book once you have completed reading it cover-to-cover. Well done!

Reviewer: Anonymous User
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Every investor must read this
Review: This book shows clearly and with hundreds of years of charts and historical data that nobody can beat the market consistently on average over time, once risk is factored in. That is to say, the only way one can "beat the market" is to accept higher levels of risk / volatility which makes it a mute point. Buying global, diversified index funds to match the performance of the stock and bond markets worldwide is the best way for long term success. There are no "shortcuts", some people get lucky but many more do not, so instead of speculating, just index. As the book says, "invest and relax". 🙂

Reviewer: Maryland Gentleman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Book
Review: Mark Hebner does it again. He provides a fantastic book with all the evidence in the world including great college professors who all agree that passive index fund investing is the best way to make the best return on your money. You should occasionally rebalance your money, and for the rest of the time, its a matter of being in the right preference for your investing. So If you are able to stomach potential great losses, you can have more stock mutual funds.And if you are not able to handle it then you should have a bigger share of bond funds. He also makes a great case for not just buying index funds but buying specialized index funds called Dimensional funds. The book is wonderful and full of lovely pictures graphs and charts a very enjoyable read from a terrific guy.

Reviewer: K. Moss
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I have the (original) large-format 2007 edition of Hebner's book which is excellent, despite the complete reliance on US stockmarket data. I know that Hebner is writing for the US context, but why-oh-why can't we have something of this quality and usefulness in the UK? Perhaps another reviewer will know of a decent (current) UK alternative.So, the 2011 edition is small, almost pocket-sized. Even in its diminutive scale, it is a thing of beauty, being filled with all of Hebner's hallmark colourful illustrations - which makes it a strange book on Index Funds, but one that is compelling to read. I suspect that this version is very definitely aimed at the client/investor - whereas the more monolithic 2007 volume seems more the province of the adviser. Either way, the content is useful in terms of establishing broad-brush principles for financial-planners and wealth-managers who have studied their subject sufficiently to have adopted a passive investment model. As with all such books, there is content which is immediately translatable into a UK context - and unfortunately, quite a bit that is not (primarily the data, supporting Hebner's contentions).Neverless, a very readable and helpful book.

Reviewer: Notadwarf
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Incredibly selective data and research - beware. It make's a great read and is not at all balanced. This book comes from the investment extremist religion that is Dimensional advisers. It is incredibly well crafted and provides a compelling view of what they fervantly believe is the only way to invest. The use of Nobel prizes winners is all part of the manipulation. What is not disclosed in this book is who was paid to say what - i.e. how independent are these views? Please don't entirely fall for this and instead do your own research in a broader context. Yes passive funds are fabulous and especially in efficient markets. For bonds and inefficient markets, have a close look at the alternatives.