Rob Bennett

Rob Bennett’s A Rich Life blog aims to put the “personal” back into “personal finance” - he focuses on the role played by emotion in saving and investing decisions. Rob developed the Passion Saving approach to money management; Passion Savers save not to finance their old-age retirements but to enjoy more freedom and opportunity in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s - because they pursue saving goals over which they feel a more intense personal concern, they are more motivated to save effectively. He also developed the Valuation-Informed Indexing investing strategy, a strategy that combines the most powerful insights of Vanguard Founder John Bogle and Yale Professsor Robert Shiller in a simple approach offering higher returns at greatly diminished risk. Tom Gardner, co-founder of the Motley Fool web site, said of Rob’s work: “The elegant simplicty of his ideas warms the heart and startles the brain.”

Shiller's Research

Were Shiller’s Research Findings a Surprise?

Robert Shiller was awarded a Nobel prize in 2013. It was for his 1981 research showing that valuations affect long-term … Read more

Market Timing

People Are Afraid to Post Even Anonymously In Support of Market Timing

My Buy-and-Hold critics do not post in good faith. They have zero desire to learn. They want to suppress learning. … Read more

Portfolio Is Worth Only 50 Percent

Is It Mean to Tell People That Their Portfolio Is Worth Only 50 Percent of What They Think It Is Worth?

Sometimes it’s a good idea to cut through all the jibber-jabber and just make the point that needs to be … Read more

Combat Irrational Exuberance

Investor Irrationality Is Scary – That’s Why We Are So Reluctant to Talk About It

It’s scary. Irrational exuberance is scary. We want to invest effectively. Everyone does. Why wouldn’t we? But this idea that … Read more

Market Timing

It’s Not Enough to Tolerate Market Timing, We Need to Encourage It

It’s not just that market timing is not bad. Market timing is good. Market timing is price discipline. Price discipline … Read more

Investing for Humans

“Investing for Humans” Is a Strange Title for a Book

I am working on a book that will be titled “Investing for Humans.” That’s a strange title. All books on … Read more

Buy-and-hold is dangerous

It Took Me a Long Time to Say That Buy-and-Hold is Dangerous

I completed a 12,000 word article titled “Buy-and-Hold Is Dangerous” in February 2019. It took me a long time to … Read more

Historical Surviving Withdrawal Rate safe withdrawal rate A 4 Percent Withdrawal Rate Has Been a High-Risk Bet Several Earlier Times in U.S. History

Is There a Case for Using the Historical Surviving Withdrawal Rate for Planning Purposes?

I believe that the Buy-and-Hold retirement studies claiming that the safe withdrawal rate is always 4 percent are in error. … Read more

CAPE Value

The CAPE Value Translates Emotion Into a Number – That’s Huge

“Stocks are getting pricey. I am thinking that maybe I should take a little off the table.” That’s the sort … Read more

Ohio Property Tax Relief for Seniors

Language That Could Be Added to the Buy-and-Hold Retirement Studies to Put Readers on Notice of Their Risks

Say that the following language was added to the top of the first page of the all Buy-and-Hold retirement studies … Read more

Valuation-Informed Indexing

The Shift to Valuation-Informed Indexing Is an All-or-Nothing Thing

The Shift from Buy-and-Hold to Valuation-Informed Indexing is an all-or-nothing thing. Unfortunately. There is something in my personality that is … Read more

Market Timing

If Valuations Can’t Be Used for Market Timing, Shiller’s Research Serves No Purpose

Two weird ones. The Buy-and-Holders never find fault with Shiller. I have never seen that happen. Not once in 21 … Read more

Shiller's Research

How Has the Mood of Investors Changed Over the Past 27 Years?

I read John Bogle’s book Common Sense on Mutual Funds in the Spring of 1996. It was by reading that … Read more

stock prices will recover

Stock Losses Are a Real Setback Even Though One Day Prices Will Recover

Stock prices will recover. They will return to where they were before they crashed and eventually rise to new highs. … Read more

Shiller's Research

Shiller Quantified What Was Previously Thought to Be Non-Quantifiable

Shiller quantified what was previously thought to be non-quantifiable. That’s the advance. That’s the breakthrough. That’s the revolution. Every investor … Read more