More Straight Talk on Investing. John J. Brennan

Stock Funds Step 3: Actively Managed Funds, Index Funds, or Some of Each? 10 It's What You Keep That Counts The Lowdown on Lower Costs Costs: Are You Leaving Too Much on the Table? Examine Fund Expense Ratios “But It's Just a Few Percentage Points …” You Can Look It Up Putting Costs in Perspective Be Aware of Transaction Costs Paid by the Fund Taxes Are Costs, Too Resist the Temptation to Trade Frequently Choose Tax-Efficient Funds Use Taxable and Tax-Advantaged Accounts Wisely 11 Risk: Give It the Gut Test Your Investment Risk Duration: A Risk Measure for Bonds A Simple Way to Check a Fund's Past Volatility The Gut Test Measuring Your Risk Tolerance Managing Investment Risk 12 Some Advice on Financial Advice When to Seek Help Assessing Your Needs for Advice Finding the Right Financial Help Assessing the Cost/Value Trade-Off of Advice Making a Choice

      10  PART III: MANAGE YOUR INVESTMENTS WITH FOCUS AND DISCIPLINE 13 Buy-and-Hold Really Works Developing the Buy-and-Hold Habit You Will Be Tempted to Abandon Your Buy-and-Hold Strategy Why Frequent Trading Doesn't Work The Unpredictability of the Financial Markets The Cost Penalty Why Market-Timing Doesn't Work 14 Time Is Everything Make Time Your Ally Time Is Your Ally How to Make Up for Lost Time 15 Routine Maintenance for Your Portfolio Your Personal Situation Rebalancing a Portfolio Why Rebalance? To Tame the Risk Monster When to Rebalance The Tax Monster Joins the Risk Monster Rebalancing Takes Discipline Keep Things Simple How to Clean Up a Messy Portfolio Note 16 Stupid Math Tricks for Smart Investors

      11  PART IV: STAY ON COURSE 17 “It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” Speculative Bubbles Tulipmania A Modern Gold Rush The Dot-com Bubble Some Commonalities among Manias How to Protect Yourself from Speculative Manias 18 Why You May Be Your Own Worst Enemy Being Overconfident About Your Own Abilities Allowing the Current Environment to Blind You to the Larger Context Thinking You See a Pattern Where None Exists Focusing Too Much on Short-Term Losses Feeling Compelled to Do Something—Anything Letting False Reference Points Distort Your View of Value Remembering Things Selectively How to Foil Your Own Worst Enemy What's the Lesson? 19 Bear Markets Will Test Your Resolve Some Background on Bear Markets How Does a Bear Market Feel? Very Scary The Lesson of Balance and Diversification (Again) Bearing a Bear Market? Tips for Enduring Bear Markets What Not to Do in a Bear Market