Hello all, I'd like to gauge interest among Lowyat forumers if there are any secret fans or disciples of Bogleheads in Bolehland I did a quick search on forum and found some traces here and there, but there's never a unified thread. I think it's about time, what do you think?

Bogleheads is a group of community named after John Bogle, the first index fund founder in 1970s which had since made tremendous impact to personal and institutional investing. Typically known as passive investing, popular instruments on index include Standard & Poor 500, Dow Jones 30, and our Bolehland has our very own indexed KLCI (Kuala Lumpur Composite Index) too.

Why index?


What makes one a Bogleheads?


Oh, does that mean if I hoot Bursa means I cannot become a Bogleheads?


How do I join the Bogleheads community?


So, got ppl support ka?

This post has been edited by alexkos: Feb 9 2022, 02:14 PM

hehe, true Bogleheads spotted. TS fake version kena tangkap basah

welcome on board! If we have enough regular members, we can do local chapter like they do in the US and other parts of the world too

I hope someone told me about Bogleheads investing philosophy right after I started working.

Nice....EPF SSPN as bond like for Malaysian.....this thread is getting interesting

For those with 100/0 asset allocation or something like that, it would be good to consider extreme scenario where one is unemployed or under employed for a prolonged period due to macroeconomic shocks like 1929 great depression.

This post has been edited by alexkos: Feb 12 2022, 06:20 PM

Those who would like to gauge their risk tolerance can go through a hypothetical scenario where the market declines x% by next year, while income is reduced by y% for z amount of time.

For example, 50% decline, 50% income reduction, 2 year duration.

This is to ensure that you have sufficient buffer in your emergency fund and fixed income combined before tapping into equity selling in worst case scenario.

Bogleheads had a few guys who had the influence of great depression 1929 (family asset wiped out, and they were in their early childhood). These were counted as real experience facing macroeconomic shocks and severe economic crisis.

Malmendier & Nagel (2011) had a paper tracking the risk taking behavior of these group of people. Overall, the experience was so painful leading to generations of conservative investing even after so many decades.

For Malaysian, perhaps some real experiences surrounding Asian financial crisis 1997 can provide a very good argument to young investors who need meaningful percentage of fixed income in their asset allocation.

This post has been edited by alexkos: Feb 13 2022, 09:47 AM

It does reduce maximum ROI potential. If everyone is disciplined enough to stay the course and lucky enough to have a full time job throughout the economic decline, then 100/0 provides the best investment outcome.

The whole idea of emergency fund and fixed income is to hedge against asset price decline (well, bond price can drop with equity asset class too but in less proportion) so that portfolio volatility is within the range of risk tolerance that one can stomach.

Also, you can't continue the game if you got wiped out in the process. Say everyone has a 30 years investment horizon, the key is to survive first, then thrive.

This post has been edited by alexkos: Feb 13 2022, 11:13 AM

Bernie Madoff's episode is a good historical lesson to those funds which are too good to be true.

Charateristics of too-good-to-be-true financial instruments
1) Guaranteed return that is significantly higher than risk-free rate (FD rate)* (advertised as high return asset class)
2) Guaranteed capital (advertised as low risk asset class)

Or something like low risk, high return stuff.

Try not to over-concentrate your asset allocation around these stuff. Equity, bonds, or money market instruments alike.

Just a quick one. Our EPF is mandated by law to deliver at least 2.5% return every year. Also, fund composition normally hovers around 50% equity, 45% bond, and 5% cash.

There's less discussion on incorporating EPF as part of our asset allocation. Our western counterpart have their 401k and IRA stuff alike. With penalty fee, they can withdraw their 401k earlier to meet extraordinary financial challenge like the pandemic. For us, there's no way to withdraw unless one decides to leave the country.

As our EPF fund is illiquid until age 55, I exclude them in my typical 70/30 asset allocation.

This post has been edited by alexkos: Feb 15 2022, 02:45 PM

Check your fixed income portion. Good luck to all.

Glad to see some fine tinkering on asset allocation happening here.

What suggestion would you give to a Malaysian who prefer the passive investing method of John Bogle but prefer that his exposure only in ringgit? Can be any global diversified asset, but must be denominated in ringgit, and preferably these fund houses and etfs are Malaysian home grown too.

Thank you.

The index fund concept was a novel one in the 70s, and many fund managers laughed at Bogle for his maiden First Index Fund. It was under subscribed, labelled as being unAmerican, a fund that is content with market return rather than seeking outperformance.

Hindsight is 20 20. If Bogle tried that in the 30s and 40s, the same era as Graham, both will very likely amend their strategies given the severe market condition at that time.

Fun fact: Graham was on margin on peak 28. He loss half of the fortune anyway soon after heeding a teacher to quickly liquidate his margin position. He became very defensive in his investing approach then, the popular book which then also influence the early approach of Buffett, ie the cigarbutt 40cents for a dollar investing.

Got 10-15 minutes to spare? Fill a Google Form investing survey and stand a chance to win Grab voucher

oh u saw that? haha

you can update your response (same google form link) since the last one was 2020.

good to see rising interest of passive investors in Malaysia

yes i realise there are investors with balanced approach. Just that due to my study follows the typical active-passive classification, respondents might need to take a position that best describe their investment style.

yes i've been thinking how income (or maintaining a stable income) can have direct effect toward asset allocation (AA), as well as how should one stay invested in the market. For retiree, income matters lesser as net worth takes care of it.

too bad most economic theory has this smooth assumption that one will stay productive in the workforce from 25 to 65, and this assumption breeds unrealistic economic policy. Just look at our 35 year house loan

which prompts me to a question: how do the Bogleheads stay invested in periods of great uncertainty when both equity selldown meets unemployment, and that one needs to tap into more emergency fund when most investments are underwater?

This post has been edited by alexkos: May 11 2025, 09:56 AM

alright, so it's like 5 years of living expense as FD. Because this is different from the usual 3-6mo emergency fund. Something like that?

sp500 is at all time high (again )

anytime thinking to bail and cash out?

you're already here

it's getting quiet here because passive investors, you know la, no need to watch market 24/7

ultra special limited time paid research survey (study led by yours truly) for MY passive investors only


together we will make S&P 500 huat again

hehe, i've been wanting to have a "local chapter" for our bolehland, like how it's encouraged by the Bogleheads.

But it appears that most passive investors are really passive until.... hehe

anyway thank you for expressing your interest

maybe you can share your journey on how you get to know about Bogleheads, and how does your investing philosophy looks like / changed over the years