There are very few icons in the world of investments who continue remaining an icon long after their time. But the world of investing will always remember Jack Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, as the legend who revolutionised not only an entire industry but even the lives of those who will probably never know of his contributions.
Jack was a firm believer and advocate of low-cost investing. For more than 20 years, he took on ridicule from most of the financial world for adhering to this ideology, but his efforts have practically helped every investor in the world today.
For more than 20 years, Jack Bogle took ridicule for his low-cost investing ideology, but his efforts have helped every investor in the world. Click To TweetMuch has already been said of him and his hard-fought and stupendous achievements, so this piece will only focus on what Jack Bogle himself had to say about all things investments – and what some of the world’s most renowned investors had to say about him:
On investor behaviour: ‘Time is your friend; impulse is your enemy.’
On stock selection: ‘Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!’
On equity market risk: ‘If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn’t be in stocks.’
On passive funds: ‘Index funds eliminate the risks of individual stocks, market sectors, and manager selection. Only stock market risk remains.’
On past performance: ‘Buying funds based purely on their past performance is one of the stupidest things an investor can do.’
On compounding returns: ‘The miracle of compounding returns has been overwhelmed by the tyranny of compounding costs.’
On beating the markets: ‘Owning the stock market over the long term is a winner’s game, but attempting to beat the market is a loser’s game.’
On trusting brokers: “It’s amazing how difficult it is for a man to understand something if he’s paid a small fortune not to understand it.”
On expenses: “The grim irony of investing is that we investors as a group not only don’t get what we pay for, we get precisely what we don’t pay for.”
On emotions: ‘The two greatest enemies of the equity fund investor are expenses and emotions.’
Investors on Bogle
Warren Buffett, possibly the world’s most famous investor: “Jack did more for American investors as a whole than any individual I’ve known. A lot of Wall Street is devoted to charging a lot for nothing.. He charged nothing to accomplish a huge amount.”
David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs: “Jack Bogle was a pioneer. He helped millions of people achieve a better financial future for themselves and their families”
Cliff Asness, billionaire co-founder of the hedge fund AQR Capital: “Put simply, no single person has ever done more for investors while asking less for himself. Nobody comes within a mile. We won’t see his like again.”
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of $30 billion hedge fund Citadel: “Jack Bogle changed the landscape of finance”
Charles Schwab, chairman and founder of Charles Schwab Corp: “Jack was a pioneer who brought the wisdom of low-cost, long-term investing to millions of people since founding Vanguard and extolling the power of index investing. Like all pioneers, he pushed into new territories, and we’re all better off because of it.”
Howard Marks, co-founder of the $122 billion Oaktree Capital: His decision to make Vanguard a client-owned firm that would keep expenses low and charge below-average fees was revolutionary
Bill Gross, co-founder of PIMCO: “He was a giant in the past half-century of investment strategy… While I still remain an advocate of active management, there is no doubt that indexing at much lower fees will outperform almost all managers over a long period of time. Both his old and his new hearts were always with the small investor as opposed to Wall Street.”
