Well - there is also the Age/Risk equation in which you need to rebalance your portfolio out of equities, and more into conservative (diversified) instruments (

Well - there is also the Age/Risk equation in which you need to rebalance your portfolio out of equities, and more into conservative (diversified) instruments (money market funds, AAA bonds, Cash) as you get older, and/or have less tolerance for risk. But I get your point, the single sentence "Put as much of your income into VFINX as you can afford." gets you 95% of the way there - doubtful that you will really increase your performance that much by studying books like these - http://www.amazon.com/Top-Investment-Books/lm/R3OSLG8NX7CO8W http://www.amazon.com/Top-Investment-Books/lm/R3OSLG8NX7CO8W.