The key aspect of an index fund is that many of them, not all of them, but many of them are extremely cheap.

You have to understand your own psychology. You have to understand that human beings weren't really designed to invest. We have all these emotions that are appropriate responses if you're being chased by a tiger, but they're terrible responses if you've got a 30-year time horizon to think about investment or when you're trying to manage investment over 30 years.

The essence of effective portfolio construction is the use of a large number of poorly correlated assets.

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.

It's human nature to find patterns where there are none and to find skill where luck is a more likely explanation (particularly if you're the lucky manager).

You have to understand what market history looks like. What market history tells you is that the very, very best investments are made when things look the worst.

99% of fund managers demonstrate no evidence of skill whatsoever.