What does it really take to build wealth the Boglehead® way—and how much of the complexity you see in the financial world is actually unnecessary? In this Bogleheads® University 101 session from the Bogleheads® 2025 Conference, Dr. Jim Dahle (founder of The White Coat Investor) walks through the 11 core Boglehead® principles in a fast-paced, no-nonsense overview designed to get investors “up to speed” quickly and grounded in the fundamentals that actually matter.

If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could just pick one fund and be done,” but worried that would be too simple—or too risky—this session is for you. In this Bogleheads® University 2025 talk, financial planner, Bogle Center board member, and Bogleheads® podcast host Jon Luskin, CFP®, explains how all-in-one funds (like target-date, balanced, and allocation funds/ETFs) can offer a “low-ish cost, low effort” middle ground between full DIY complexity and expensive professional management.

Most investors obsess over what to invest in—and barely think about where those investments sit. In this Bogleheads® University 2025 session, fee-only CFP® and founder of FirstGen Wealth, Valerie Rivera, shows why smart tax management and asset location can matter just as much as your asset allocation. She breaks complex tax rules into three simple buckets—tax now, tax later, and tax never—and demonstrates how using them intentionally can dramatically change your real, after-tax wealth.

Most investors assume that “having a guy” means they’re getting real financial advice. In this Bogleheads® 2025 Conference session, CFP® and fee-only, advice-only planner S.C. Gutierrez pulls back the curtain on how the financial services industry actually works—and shows you how to get the guidance you need without being quietly steered into products that primarily serve the advisor’s bottom line.

Index funds were supposed to make investing simple. So how did we end up with thousands of “smart beta,” “strategic,” and “active index” products all claiming to be the next evolution of indexing? In this advanced Bogleheads® University 501 session from the Bogleheads® 2025 Conference, Rick Ferri walks through the history, mechanics, and marketing of index methodologies—and shows where legitimate innovation ends and “index pollution” begins.

Do you actually need a trust—or have you just been told you do? In this Bogleheads® University 2025 session, estate and elder law attorneys Jenny Rozelle and Justin Schuhmacher from Indiana Estate & Elder Law walk through the real-world situations where a trust is genuinely useful, and when a simple will plus good beneficiary designations may be enough. They cut through the noise, explain what trusts actually are (and are not), and focus on practical decision points that matter for families, not legal theory.

How do you turn a pile of savings into reliable, inflation-protected income you can actually live on? In this Bogleheads® University 2025 session, longtime Boglehead® and software developer Kevin Esselborn walks through how to design, build, and track a TIPS ladder using his free tool, TipsLadder.com. He shows how Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) can be combined into a structured “ladder” that matches your spending needs year by year—essentially creating your own, inflation-indexed pension from a portion of your bond portfolio.

Most investors say they want simplicity—total market index funds, low costs, and a clear plan. But by the time you get serious about cleaning things up, you’re often staring at a sprawling, tax-laden mess: legacy funds, concentrated stocks, munis, insurance products, private deals, and cash doing nothing. In this Bogleheads® 2025 Conference session, financial planner and long-time Boglehead® Allan Roth walks through “the complexity of moving toward simplicity”: why the destination is simple, but the path is anything but.

Strategies for Setting (and achieving) Your Savings Goals

A basic primer for understanding the language of investing to help folks not be intimidated by the jargon so they can make better investment decisions.

How to build a successful investment portfolio

Allan Roth details seven common investing mistakes. Fortunately, all investors should be able to avoid these pitfalls with a simplified and disciplined approach to investing.

What is the order of priority for saving and investing? Financial planner SC Gutierrez shares which accounts you should contribute to first in order to maximize your chances of reaching your goals.

Q&A with Rick Ferri, SC Gutierrez, Jesse Mecham, and Allan Roth; moderated by Karen Damato

Christine Benz interviews Jonathan Guyton about dynamic portfolio withdrawals in retirement.

Jim Dahle discusses how to reduce the likelihood you'll get sued and strategies for protecting your assets against a lawsuit.

Leif Dahleen presents topics for consideration and planning prior to and after retirement.

Paul Merriman in Conversation with Jim Dahle discussing the pros and cons of Factor Investing.

Christine Benz discusses how to set savings goals, manage human capital, establish an emergency fund, determine whether to pay down debt or invest, and create a budget. 

Rick Ferri provides an overview of key investment types and discusses the virtues of using index funds for the core of a portfolio. He also shares the Bogleheads' investing philosophy. 

Mike Piper provides a basic introduction to the rules regarding the most common types of tax-advantaged accounts, such as Roth IRA, traditional IRA, 401(k), HSA, etc.

Christine Benz discusses the two key factors to bear in mind when setting an asset allocation: risk capacity and risk tolerance. She also shares some case studies of appropriate asset allocations for retirement and non-retirement goals. 

Jim Dahle shares the characteristics of "reasonable" portfolios, as well as specific examples of reasonable and unreasonable portfolios. 

Mike Piper discusses the three most important things you can do to minimize the taxes that you pay on your investment returns.

In a session led by Karen Damato, Christine Benz, Mike Piper, and Allan Roth field questions on asset allocation, investment selection, and tax considerations.

Mary Beth Franklin discusses the ways that claiming age, marital status, and earnings affect the amount of Social Security you receive. Franklin also shares claiming strategies to maximize benefits.

Wade Pfau shares strategies for minimizing your taxes in retirement, through managing your tax rates and strategic use of Roth conversions.

Jim Dahle discusses the case for (private) real estate, the case for overweighting real estate, and the various types of real estate investments.

Paul Merriman discusses the past performance of the last 90+ years when investing in small-cap value stocks, examining both absolute return, and relative performance when U.S. large-cap stocks underperformed.

Rick Ferri discusses what drives investment portfolio returns (beta), adding factor strategies to a total market portfolio, tracking error from targeting factor premiums, the importance of having a long investment horizon (25+ years), fees (hurdle rate), lack of premiums ex-post, behavioral risk, mean regression and more.

In a session led by Jim Dahle, Dana Anspach, Rick Ferri, Mary Beth Franklin, Paul Merriman and Wade Pfau field questions on social security, real estate, factor investing and retirement tax planning.

Author and White Coat Investor founder Jim Dahle kicks off the first Bogleheads University with an exploration of the first Bogleheads principle: Develop a Workable Plan. He covers the importance of setting financial goals, investing in various investment accounts, and finding an appropriate asset allocation.

Financial advisor and author Allan Roth covers Bogleheads Principle #3: Never Bear Too Much or Too Little Risk. He discusses how to select investments that are appropriate given your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. 

Morningstar director of personal finance Christine Benz covers Bogleheads Principle #4: Diversify. She explores the advantages of index funds and exchange-traded funds for investors at all life stages, and shares how the 3-fund portfolio (consisting of Total Stock Market, Total International Stock, and Total Bond Market) is exceptionally well diversified. 

Financial advisor and author Rick Ferri tackles Bogleheads Principle #5: Don't Try to Time the Market. He shares data showing how investors often hurt their results with poor timing decisions and discusses how investors can put in place a plan that requires relatively little ongoing maintenance. 

Financial advisor and author Rick Ferri discusses Bogleheads Principle #6: Use Index Funds When Possible. He shares data pointing to the performance edge that index funds hold in most major categories and the risks that investors court by emphasizing actively managed funds. 

Financial advisor and author Allan Roth tackles Bogleheads Principle #7: Keep Costs Low. He discusses the gamut of costs that investors pay: expense ratios for their funds, transaction costs, advice costs, tax costs, and the cost of poor timing decisions. 

Tax and Social Security expert Mike Piper covers Bogleheads Principle #8: Minimize Taxes. He shares key ways to minimize investment-related taxes, including maximizing contributions to tax-sheltered accounts, investing tax-efficiently within taxable accounts, and paying attention to "asset location." 

Tax and Social Security expert Mike Piper tackles Bogleheads Principle #9: Invest with Simplicity. He discusses how investors in multi-asset funds often do a better job of capturing their funds' returns than in investors in other fund types. 

Author and White Coat Investor founder Jim Dahle discusses Bogleheads Principle #10: Stay the Course. He looks at how investors can undermine their own results with too-frequent buying and selling, including chasing hot performers. 

Bogleheads University "faculty members" tackle attendee questions. They discuss investing in an inflationary environment, setting up bucket portfolios for retirement, lump sum versus dollar-cost averaging, and potential undervaluation in non-U.S. stocks. The panel discussion includes Christine Benz, Jim Dahle, Rick Ferri, Mike Piper, and Allan Roth.