3 Smart Moves for Retirement Investors from the Bogleheads

Wouldn't be great to get advice on managing your money from a knowledgeable friend—one who isn't trying to rake in a commission or push a bad investment?

That's what the Bogleheads are all about. These ordinary investors, who follow the teachings of Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, offer guidance, encouragement and investing opinions at their website, Bogleheads.org. The group started back in 1998 as the Vanguard Diehards discussion board at Morningstar.com. As interest grew, the Bogleheads split off and launched an independent website. Today the Bogleheads have nearly 40,000 registered members, but millions more check into the site each month. (You don't have to be member to read the posts but you must register to comment—it's free.)

As you would expect given their name, the Bogleheads favor the investing principles advocated by Bogle and the Vanguard fund family: low costs, indexing (mostly), and buy-and-hold investing—though the members disagree on many details. The Bogleheads are led by a core group of active members, who have also published books, helped establish local chapters around the country, and put together an annual conference. Their ranks of regular commenters include respected financial pros such as Rick Ferri, Larry Swedroe, William Bernstein, Wade Pfau, and Michael Piper.

For investors who prefer their advice in a handy, non-virtual format, a new edition of "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing," a best-seller originally published in 2006, is coming out this week. Below, Mel Lindauer, who co-wrote the book with fellow Bogleheads Taylor Larimore and Michael LeBoeuf, shares three of the most important moves that retirement investors need to make.

Choose the right risk level. Figuring out which asset allocation you can live with over the long term is essential—and that means knowing how much you can comfortably invest in stocks. Consider the 37% plunge in the stock market in 2008 during the financial crisis. Did you hold on your stock funds or sell? If you panicked, you should probably keep a smaller allocation to equities. Whatever your risk tolerance, it helps to tune out the market noise and stay focused on the long term. "That's one of the main advantages of being a Boglehead—we remind people to stay the course," says Lindauer.

Keep it simple with a target-date fund. These portfolios give you an asset mix that shifts to become more conservative as you near retirement. Some investing pros argue that a one-size-fits-all approaches has drawbacks, but Lindauer sees it differently, saying "These funds are an ideal way for investors to get a good asset mix in one fund." He also likes the simplicity—having to track fewer funds makes it easier to monitor your portfolio and stay on track to your goals.

Another advantage of target-dates is that holding a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds masks the ups and downs of the market. "If the stock market falls more than 10%, your fund may only fall 5%, which won't make you panic and sell," says Lindauer. But before you opt for a fund, check under hood and be sure the asset mix is geared to your risk level—not all target-date funds invest in the same way, with some holding more aggressive or more conservative asset mixes. If the fund with your retirement date doesn't suit your taste for risk, choose one with a different retirement date.

Don't overlook inflation protection. Given the low rates that investors have experienced for the past five years—the CPI is still hovering around 2%—inflation may seem remote right now. But rising prices remain one of the biggest threats to retirement investors, Lindauer points out. If you start out with a $1,000, and inflation averages 3% over the next 30 years, you would need $2,427 to buy the same basket of goods and services you could buy today.

That's why Lindauer recommends that pre-retirees keep a stake in inflation-protected bonds, such as TIPs (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) and I Bonds, which provide a rate of return that tracks the CPI. Given that inflation is low, so are recent returns on these bonds. Still, I Bonds "are the best of a bad lot," Lindauer says. Recently these bonds paid 1.94%, which beats the average 0.90% yield on one-year CDs. If rates rise, after one year you can redeem the I Bond; you'll lose three months of interest, but you can then buy a higher-yielding bond, Lindauer notes. Consider them insurance against future spikes in inflation.

More investing advice from our Ultimate Retirement Guide:
What's the Right Mix of Stocks and Bonds?
How Often Should I Check on My Retirement Investments?
How Much Money Will I Need to Save?