Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard, obituary

bostonerimus

Whatever you think about the merits of passive investing it's useful to understand the enormous effects that Jack Bogle has had on the investment industry. By founding Vanguard, and popularizing passive investing, he tipped the balance of power in retail investing just a little towards the customer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/obituaries/john-bogle-vanguard-dead.html

ams25

Great man. I was watching a recent interview of him only last week and thinking how marvellous he was despite his advanced years.

Sad news. RiP Jack.

Thrugelmir

In his day Jack Bogle identified a meaningfull opportunity. Shame that the concept has more recently been turned into a bible that fervently gets waved by disciples. Even Bogle himself has expressed reservations about the broad brushing of passive trackers.

Alexland

Just seen the news. A great loss to the investment community. I will miss his Morningstar interviews.

fifeken

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5951797/rip-jack-bogle

bostonerimus

Thrugelmir wrote: »

In his day Jack Bogle identified a meaningfull opportunity. Shame that the concept has more recently been turned into a bible that fervently gets waved by disciples. Even Bogle himself has expressed reservations about the broad brushing of passive trackers.

Yes, Bogle identified that in the US of the 1970s indexing beat a majority of active portfolios after costs were taken into account. Indexing had been an institutional strategy up to then and he was the first to offer it to the retail investor through Vanguard and the low costs of Vanguard changed the industry dramatically.

What interested me most about the NYT article was the Forbes estimate of Bogle's net worth of $80M compared to the many billions of his peers at companies like Fidelity. Because Bogle set Vanguard up to so that it's owned by the funds he did not grant himself or the other founders ownership beyond the money they personally had invested.

A_T

Thrugelmir wrote: »

In his day Jack Bogle identified a meaningfull opportunity. Shame that the concept has more recently been turned into a bible that fervently gets waved by disciples. Even Bogle himself has expressed reservations about the broad brushing of passive trackers.

Most investors do worse than trackers so it's perhaps a bible worth waving.

Alexland

Nice tribute video from Morningstar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luNay3-MhzQ

bostonerimus

A_T wrote: »

Most investors do worse than trackers so it's perhaps a bible worth waving.

Jack Bogle made investing simpler and cheaper for the the regular investor. He hated gobbledygook as it just distances people from the information they need to make sensible decisions and the best thing he did was to reduce all that. Just read the bogleheads wiki and you'll see how simple investing can be.

I think it's sensible for most people to invest in low cost index funds, but whether you used index or active funds they should only be a part of your finances. You also need to be frugal, have money in the bank, have appropriate insurance, buy a home and stay open to adjusting things as your circumstances change. That might include having some P2P...although I'm dubious about that....or buying an annuity if the rates are right and it's appropriate. Using John Bogle's investment ideas isn't a panacea for all your troubles, but they can help as part of your overall plan for a secure future.

webjaved

RIP John. What an individual. He'll be sorely missed.

MaxiRobriguez

bostonerimus wrote: »

Jack Bogle made investing simpler and cheaper for the the regular investor. He hated gobbledygook as it just distances people from the information they need to make sensible decisions and the best thing he did was to reduce all that. Just read the bogleheads wiki and you'll see how simple investing can be.

I think it's sensible for most people to invest in low cost index funds, but whether you used index or active funds they should only be a part of your finances. You also need to be frugal, have money in the bank, have appropriate insurance, buy a home and stay open to adjusting things as your circumstances change. That might include having some P2P...although I'm dubious about that....or buying an annuity if the rates are right and it's appropriate. Using John Bogle's investment ideas isn't a panacea for all your troubles, but they can help as part of your overall plan for a secure future.

I suppose the argument is that passive investing is appropriate as long as active management is setting the prices.

As soon as passive investing accounts for 60,70,80% of the market then the price people are paying for their assets isn't pegged to P/Es, debt, growth potential, the economy or anything else.