WE ARE ALL THIRD WAY NOW:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that investors in possession of a good fortune must be in want of good judgment.

Apologies, Jane Austen, but it's true: Those of us in the financial media and punditocracy often take Americans to task for not saving enough for retirement, chasing the hot stock of the moment or other investment fads, and selling at the worst possible time. I, too, plead guilty as charged.

But now, it turns out that many Americans actually are doing the right thing. Several huge studies of Vanguard account holders -- retail and defined contribution, with taxable and retirement accounts -- show millions of investors are allocating their funds appropriately to stocks while keeping a decent cushion in bonds and cash; trade rarely; own low-cost index funds, some exchange traded funds (ETFs) and target date retirement funds (TDFs); and barely changed their holdings during the recent coronavirus sell-off.

It may be a "dog bites man" story, but it's comforting that millions of people have paid attention to what some of us and especially the late investing giant John Bogle have been saying for years: Own stocks, diversify, keep costs down, rebalance and reinvest dividends, and don't panic. If they keep following this advice, they'll live long and prosper. (Apologies, Mr. Spock.)

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