Buy Like Bogle: 7 Essential Lessons from the Founder of Vanguard
Few individuals have had a bigger impact on the financial industry than Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard and a pioneer of low cost index investing.
Bogle is never afraid to speak his mind or lock horns with opponents, which has produced a number of memorable moments and quotes over the years. Below are seven insightsgleaned from Bogle’s long career.
1. Less Exciting = Better Performing
Bogle has dedicated his career to convincing investors and advisors that simplicity is a virtue when it comes to portfolio construction. In an editorial for Financial Times, Bogle reiterated his preference for the cheap and vanilla over the expensive and flashy:
Avoiding hot new products is unlikely to impair the returns investors earn. Far more likely the reverse is true. Staying the course with less exciting, inexpensive, broad-market traditional index funds should enhance investor returns.
2. Beware Brilliant Marketing
Jack Bogle has been an unlikely critic of ETFs (Vanguard is one the largest ETF providers), calling them “the greatest marketing innovation of the 21st century.” The key word in this quote, of course, is “marketing.” Bogle’s beef with ETFs lies in the fact that they encourage active trading and emotional responses to short-term market conditions. (he does note that “broad-market exchange traded funds are fine, as long as investors do not trade them.”)
3. Doing Nothing is Expensive
Bogle has been refreshingly honest about the challenges facing investors, and the fact that the journey is never easy. This might not be what investors want to hear, but it is some valuable perspective:
There’s no escaping risk. I’ve long searched for high returns without risk; despite the many claims that such investments exist, however, I haven’t found it. And a money market may be the ultimate risk because it will likely lag inflation.
Investors who allow extreme risk aversion to dominate their portfolios will avoid the heartache on days when the market tanks. But they’ll likely finish dead last in the long run, well behind those who rode out the ups and downs.
4. Overconfidence is Your Worst Enemy…
Bogle has noted that investors tend to be overconfident in their ability to perform most tasks, from picking winning stocks to picking star managers. In reality, they’re terrible at both (even if there are plenty of exceptions). Those who ultimately “win” at investing are those who accept their limitations and focus on the aspects of portfolio management that they can control: costs and taxes.
His take on the needle and the haystack still resonates; instead of spending your life searching for the needle, just buy the whole darn haystack.
5. And Sell-Offs are Your Best Friend
One of Bogle’s trademarks is his calm and rational approach to investing as a long-term pursuit. But actually following through on his advice to stick with the plan is often easier said than done. This quote, from a gathering in 2008 as markets were undergoing huge swings, is worth remembering the next time stocks plunge:
You may say, how can I keep investing the day that the market goes down 600 points? Well, that’s the greatest time in the world to invest. It’s certainly better than doing it the day before it goes down 600 points.
6. Don’t Fight the Last War
There is more financial media to consume today than ever before. Much of it is dedicated to a review of history, and drawing conclusions about what past booms and busts may mean for today’s markets.
In one of his more recent books, Bogle warns investors to avoid “fighting the last war,” or assuming that strategies that have worked in the past will work well today. In reality, each environment is quite different. While some scenarios — rising rates, a strengthening U.S. dollar, or changes in spending patterns — may replay , numerous other conditions have changed.
An overconfidence in the past as a predictor of the future is yet another opportunity for investors to stumble.
7. Perseverance Pays Off
Aside from his contributions to index investing, Bogle’s business acumen serves as an inspirational example. The reaction from his peers to his ideas in the 1970s weren’t exactly encouraging — the original S&P 500 fund was derisively called “Bogle’s Folly” after it failed to garner much initial interest.
His commitment to the principles on which Vanguard was founded are remarkable — he truly believed in his mission, and didn’t let the criticism of his approach derail what would become one of the most important companies in the world.
If you’re a fan of Bogle’s take on investing, you might appreciate our Boglehead Hall of Fame. We’ve also assembled a collection of quotes from Rick Ferri, one of the biggest advocates of low cost investing. And of course our mutual fund database provides a handy way to compare index funds (as well as actively-managed products) to find the best fit for your portfolio.
http://fundreference.com/guides/bogle/