This book is the culmination of a quirky sort of grassroots movement in the financial industry. The Bogleheads are a group of “average” investors, inspired by Vanguard founder John Bogle, who seek to take control of their financial future by choosing fairly simple investing strategies. Those strategies are guided by the twin principles of, on the one hand keeping investment fees and taxes low, and on the other hand sticking with their baseline strategy for long periods of time. and They generally, though not exclusively, avoid financial planners and prefer DIY investing.

The book is very opinionated about the best way to invest (in a nutshell: start early; invest consistently; buy index funds; don’t let go of them; do nothing else.) But it is also a pretty good guide to the world of financial instruments, with fairly length diversions into areas I had never even heard of: TIPS, for example. And it also dips into specialized topics like saving for college and estate planning.

As someone who has heard the term “401(k)” but is otherwise pretty ignorant about how to go about saving for retirement, I found this work quite useful and actually a bit empowering. A coworker recommended it to me when I asked him for a good primer, and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone else in a similar position.