After fourteen chapters of theory, history, and bubbles, Malkiel finally gets to the practical stuff. Chapter 15 is called “Three Giant Steps Down Wall Street.” It’s his playbook. Three ways to actually invest your money.
If you have money in a Vanguard or Fidelity index fund, or you buy SPY or VOO through your brokerage app, Chapter 23 is basically about you. Harris wrote this in 2003, but it reads like a prediction of what actually happened. Index investing went from a niche idea to the default way normal people invest. This chapter explains why.
Index trading is one of the most important financial innovations of the twentieth century. And after reading Chapter 22 about how hard it is to identify skilled managers, you can understand why.