Table of contents -- Introduction: What kind of an investor are you? -- PART I: Some essential background on. . . -- Chapter 1: Some essential background on investment fundamentals -- A. Preview -- B. Interest rates, investment returns, and compounding -- C. Risk and its rewards -- D. Diversification -- E. Valuation and market efficiency -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 2: Some essential background on mutual funds -- A. Preview -- B. How do mutual funds work and what are their advantages? -- C. Tangible costs -- D. Some hidden costs: Games played by mutual fund managers and weak governance of fund companies -- E. Fund characteristics -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 3: Some essential background on the principles of wise investing and how psychology sometimes gets in the way -- A. Preview -- B. Saving roadblocks: Limited self-control and procrastination -- C. Behavioral biases may lead to poor decisions -- D. Excessive emotion -- E. Most people don't know as much as they think they know -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- PART II: How well do you do. . . ? -- Chapter 4: How well do you do buying mutual funds? -- A. Preview -- B. Do mutual funds typically outperform? -- C. Why exactly do mutual fund managers underperform? -- D. Why the lack of outperformance is not really surprising -- E. Can we identify star managers? -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 5: How well do you do assembling your own portfolio? -- A. Preview -- B. Do people trade because of real or perceived information? -- C. Overconfidence -- D. Under-diversification, momentum-chasing, and a love for the familiar -- E. Self-investment in groups: Investment clubs -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 6: How well do you do with indexation? -- A. Preview -- B. What are indexes? -- C. What is indexation and why does it make sense? -- D. Index products.

E. The pros and cons of the various index products -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- PART III: Going forward. . . -- Chapter 7: Going forward with an understanding of asset allocation -- A. Preview -- B. What is asset allocation? -- C. Why is asset allocation important? -- D. Optimizers -- E. Problems with using optimizers -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 8: Going forward to implement asset allocation -- A. Preview -- B. Distributions of final wealth -- C. Assessing your risk tolerance -- D. Should the stock-bond mix change over time? -- E. Extended diversification -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 9: Going forward towards retirement -- A. Preview -- B. Sources of retirement income -- C. How much is needed? -- D. Sources of uncertainty -- E. After retirement -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Chapter 10: Going forward with self-knowledge and insight -- A. Preview -- B. What is your money personality? -- C. What is your investment temperament? -- D. Looking for an edge I: Anomalies and style-tilting -- E. Looking for an edge II: Manager selection -- F. Recap -- Endnotes -- Conclusion: Moving towards the investment solution that is right for you -- Recommended Readings -- Web site Guide -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.