The purpose of investing is not to simply optimise returns and make yourself rich. The purpose is not to die poor. William J. Bernstein More Quotes by William J. Bernstein More Quotes From William J. Bernstein Market risk is like taking a plunge into a cool pool ... a lot of people are finding out right now what their risk tolerance is. William J. Bernstein tolerance risk people While it is probably a poor idea to own actively managed funds in general, it is truly a terrible idea to own them in taxable accounts... taxes are a drag on performance of up to 4 percentage points each year... many index funds allow your capital gains to grow largely undisturbed until you sell... For the taxable investor, indexing means never having to say you're sorry. William J. Bernstein sorry mean years The typical fund company services 401k plan participants in the same way that Baby Face Nelson serviced banks. William J. Bernstein faces baby way For the taxable investor, indexing means never having to say you're sorry. William J. Bernstein movie love romantic The essence of effective portfolio construction is the use of a large number of poorly correlated assets. William J. Bernstein essence use numbers An index fund is a fund that simply invests in all of the stocks in a market. So, for example, an index fund might invest in every single stock or almost every single stock in the U.S. market, it might invest in every single stock abroad, or it might invest in all of the bonds that are out there. And you can make a perfectly fine investing portfolio that mixes equal parts of all three of those. William J. Bernstein investing three example The deeper one delves, the worse things look for actively managed funds. William J. Bernstein investing deeper looks The key thing about any fund is to make sure its expenses are low. You know, if you look at the funds in your plan and you see that they're all charging 1.5 and 2 percent,you've gota bad plan. William J. Bernstein keys lows looks Do the math. Expect catastrophes. Whatever happens, stay the course. William J. Bernstein catastrophe whatever-happens math The key aspect of an index fund is that many of them, not all of them, but many of them are extremely cheap. William J. Bernstein fund aspect keys