A Random Walk Down Wall Street

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel was originally published in 1973, and it has had 13 editions published to date. Random Walk is a guide to investing, covering the history of crises in investment markets to aid the reader in navigating contemporary investment situations.

Random Walk presents in-depth discussions of Balancing Risk and Reward, Comparing Long-Term and Short-Term Goals, and The Psychology of Crowds and Markets, presenting the reader with a guide to navigating the market with a specific focus on what they want as investors, how much risk they are willing to maintain to achieve those goals, and what psychological trends they should identify and avoid. Malkiel emphasizes that developing wealth is not a fast process, but a program of regular saving over many years while investing is reliable, broad-based index funds. He argues index funds should form the core of anyone’s portfolio, with additional investment products and methods acting as supplements to that foundation. When Random Walk was initially published, index funds were not yet available, and Malkiel’s ideas were not widely accepted. As of 2024, however, index funds are immensely popular, and they are commonly acknowledged as a reliable source of returns for investors.