The Smartest Portfolio You'Ll Ever Own: A Do-it-Yourself Breakthrough Strategy Paperback – 4 Sept. 2012

This book is so smart. What a wonderful book from a wonderful writer. I loved it.

This author writes in a straight forward easy to comprehend style and makes a very compelling case as to why Passive Index Investing using low cost index funds from Vanguard or Schwab that include diversifying using different asset classes such as Total US Market, Large Cap, Small Cap, Europe, REITS, Pacific, Short Duration Bonds, Emerging Markets, etc. and re-balancing once or twice a year is for the vast majority of retail investors is the only sure way to most closely match the market benchmarks such as the S&P 500. I just wish I would have become familiar with this strategy 25 years ago. You can use this strategy by purchasing either Index Funds such as ETF's in your non- retirement account and Index Fund Mutual Funds in your retirement accounts. Begin by determining your risk profile such as 40% Bonds and 60% stocks, diversify using the asset classes, buy and hold, and re-balance. This author is a terrific writer and his series of books - the Smartest... are all very noteworthy.Every new and experienced investor should read this book. It is a real eye-opener. You will learn that even the professional money managers are unable to consistently pick winning stocks and time the market. So if they can not successfully match or beat the market benchmarks, how in the world can a retail investor? That is why purchasing low cost Index ETF or Mutual Funds are the best way to manage risk and diversify by purchasing the entire market within each asset class. You must read this book and his previous book "The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read!A terrific web site that I used to further educate myself on Index Investing is the website for Index Fund Advisors located in Newport Beach, CA which will manage your portfolio for you using the Index Fund strategy discussed in this book. IFA manages a portfolio of over 1.8 Billion dollars. Take a look at their website, it is very detailed and quite impressive.I purchased this book used in hardback from an Amazon re-seller at 60% the suggested price of the book!

An easy read with lots of very short chapters and a summary message at the end of each chapter. The message is the same as other books, but is focussed on the US. Much less useful for Canadian investors. I would not buy it again for that reason.

I LIKE THIS SMALL NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLAR BOOK MOST AS YOU CAN FINISH IT IN 2 HOURS AND IT WILL GUIDE YOU WHY INDEXING IS THE ONLY WAY TO BEAT THE MARKET IN LONG TERM . BE CARE FUL OF HIGH COST ACTIVE FUNDS AND MARKETING TERRORISM OF BROKERS. DO IT YOURSELF ,IN MONEY MATTERS DONOT RELY ON FUND ADVISORS.

A few years ago I read Solin's The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read. It was an easy read with extraordinarily good charts and graphs. I already had some experience investing along very similar lines using Vanguard, and this book really encouraged me to keep going in this direction. Soon after reading the book I took on the responsibility of managing my elderly parents' finances. The Solin book was the core of the strategy, and provided a convenient tool for me to communicate with the family.Recently I bought his new book, The Smartest Portfolio You'll Ever Own. It adds some fresh dimensions to the content in the other book and I am currently adjusting my portfolios accordingly. I have a website where I will soon add a section on Personal Finance. I will definitely encourage visitors to my site to purchase this latest book.Great book. Well worth the read!

It's a very good book to get you started with investments. It teaches the value of diversification and asset allocation which is 95% of your returns. The media and Wall Street want to confuse investors and make them think they can stock pick and market time, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Investing for the long term and staying invested is the only way to go. The only thing to add is rebalancing. You have to keep your risk levels in check. That in essence is buying low and selling high.