| Hi Aris, Welcome to this week's edition of Smart Investing. Vanguard’s founder, John Bogle, the pioneer of index funds, urged investors to "buy the haystack" instead of looking for needles in haystacks. The latest Australian S&P Indices versus Active (SPIVA) scorecard shows how right his advice was many decades ago, and still is. In our lead article this week, Vanguard's Senior Personal Finance Writer, Tony Kaye, delves into the latest SPIVA results, which show a majority of actively managed funds across all Australian fund categories underperformed their assigned benchmarks in the first-half of 2024. The poor results are even worse over the longer term. Read the article to find out more. Our second article focuses on the returns from a globally diversified portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds. While returns fell in 2022 they're now back in positive territory, and the long-term track record of the 60/40 has been consistently strong. It's a case of steady as it goes. Lastly, we speak with a younger Vanguard investor to find out more about his investing story. At just 25 he has already built up a sizeable investment portfolio using exchange traded funds (ETFs), and he makes additional investments every fortnight as part of his shorter-term strategy to save up for a house deposit. Vanguard has a special offer to subscribers wanting to attend the 2024 ASX Investor Day sessions in Melbourne, on 16 November, and in Sydney, on 23 November. Click on the banner below to register and enter the code NOV24 to receive a 20% discount. | 
