Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Index Funds: The 12-Step Program for Active Investors is the treatment of choice for wayward investors. John Bogle called Hebner s book "incredibly handsome and wise," while Burton Malkiel stated that "Hebner gives good advice presented in a very appealing manner." Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson calls it "a valuable reference," and Anders Oldenger of Seligson & Company nominated it as one of the three "All-time Greatest Investment Books," along with the writings of John Bogle and Warren Buffett.

Hebner s book addresses why an overwhelming majority of investors continue to embrace an active investing strategy, despite the extensive academic research demonstrating its ineffectiveness to beat a market index and the overall futility of such a strategy. Speculating on the next winning stock, fund manager, investment style or market timing 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 12-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 a risk-calibrated portfolio of passively managed, globally diverse index funds.

Average Customer Rating:

Read the book before you throw more money away.	Customer Rating:
IF you "think" you understand the market, and you think you are smarter than the average bear (no pun intended) then you really ought to be smart enough to admit you did not understand your problem until you read Mark's book on Index Funds.

The only way to Invest.

Customer Rating:

Hebner, covers all the bases to intelligent investing in a delightful manner. Once you understand that outperforming markets is a battle that can't be won over time you will be well on your way to successful investing. This book doesn't want you to roll dice, throw darts, or flip coins but to invest in Markets(essentially capitalism). Markets are known to grow over time and THAT is what you're investing in, the overall growth of economies. The book is very easy to read but advanced enough for seasoned finacial experts. Hebner leaves no stone unturned. The book contains lots of great data, facts, graphs and charts. Look at the returns of some of the portfolios in this book. They are more risk diverse than the S&P 500, achieve greater returns, and their is a portfolio for every need. The average investor can achieve returns of the top financial experts with the asset allocation knowledge in this book. You'll truely understand how markets and stock prices work after this read.

Do You Know Why You're Still Poor?

Customer Rating:

If you've ever wondered why, despite your consuming interest in investing and the markets, you're still poor - this book will tell you. Not only will it tell you, but it will prove to you that the financial deck is stacked against you in so many ways it will make your head spin. Despair not! It also walks you through the steps you can take to avoid the pitfalls that beset even the best and brightest among us. I've shared this book with dozens of my closest friends and family (for whom I manage their money) to help them understand the "right" way to think about investing. If nothing else, it helps to answer the inevitable "why did my investment account go down?" questions. I highly recommend spending the few hours it will take to read and digest the plentiful information contained in this incredible book. It will be one of the best investments you'll EVER make!

Good Review of Index Fund Advantages

Customer Rating:

This is a very nice book detailing the advantages of index funds and the folly of paying large annual expense ratios for a manager to pick investments for you. It is also a very pretty book. I'm not so much for pretty, but I'm pretty much for good. The facts speak the truth and do it in such a way the emotions are satiated as well as the rational mind. There really isn't anything new here I've not read before in John Bogle's books, but Mr. Bogle is a scholar and very dry. (my hero)This book takes that and makes it almost fun to read. You can get this book in PDF format at his website at no charge, but, again, it's so attractive you'll want a hard copy just to look at for the art! A quick summary of the book goes like this. 95% of all people will not out perform the markets. The best you can do is to acheive the average returns of the markets and keep as much of this return as possible by paying the lowest expenses you can find. This holds true for US & foreign stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, and commodotites. ETF's are a new version of index funds that offers significant advantages and should be investigated because they have even lower expenses, capital gain tax advantages, and can be traded in real time. It's an attractive book with excellent information and the idea that active mutual fund investors need a 12-step program is humorous!

Indispensable

Customer Rating:

This book is one of the true gems ever written on the subject of mutual fund investing. Mr. Hebner's book on index fund investing offers a 12 step cure for active investors who year after attempt to beat Wall Street with dismal results. He likens this strategy to gambling in a casino. The author builds a convincing case for investing in a globally diversified portfolio of no-load, low-expense mutual funds, and backs it up with tons of academic research, graphs, charts, and tables that are not only colorful, but very easy to read and understand even for the novice investor. If you are truly serious about achieving financial security without the stress of navigating through the volatile stock market, this book should be on the top your must-read list. Simply follow the advice the author lays out, and you will be well on your way to outperforming over 90% of the so-called professional money managers on Wall Street.