Paul A. Samuelson, who died December 13 at age 94, was rightly remembered as a brilliant educator, as author of the best-selling economics textbook ever, and as the second recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Professor Samuelson, the …

It’s a question we hear from time to time on this blog, as well as through e-mails, letters, and phone calls: “Why does Vanguard advertise?”

It’s a fair question. And believe me, it’s a topic debated vigorously by Vanguard’s leadership …

One of the smartest people I know—a brilliant copy editor—used to shake her head as she read articles about bonds and the bond market.

“I think you have to be born with the bond gene to understand bonds,” she would …

You probably know that Vanguard advocates periodic rebalancing as a way to manage risk in investment portfolios.

Our Investment Counseling & Research Group, overseen by my fellow blogger John Ameriks, has written a detailed white paper on rebalancing. John weighed …

For 35 years I’ve carried a quotation in my wallet. More precisely, I’ve moved the quotation, clipped from a now-defunct newspaper, from wallet to wallet to wallet over the decades.

The quotation is from Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers”:

“There are …

Nearly 20 years ago, I helped a group of friends start an investment club.

We were regulars at a friendly poker game, so we named our venture the Busted Flush Investment Club. My hope was that I could interest these …

The vast majority of what you read and hear about investing focuses on returns. As in, what mutual fund, or stock, or asset class investors ought to buy now to garner the best return for some indeterminate period. Or which …

I’ll admit it’s a stretch for investors to find something positive from the past 18 months or so. But perhaps one plus is that a number of investing beliefs are under examination, and that many of us are reconsidering our …

The idea that you should have a cash reserve equal to three to six months of your living expenses would almost certainly make any “Ten Commandments” list for personal finance.

It might also be one of the least obeyed commandments, …

We spent part of last weekend looking for replacements for our old washer and dryer, which definitely were on their last legs. In doing a bit of research before heading for the appliance store, I found an unexpected parallel with …