Jack Bogle
Formal First Name
John (Jack)
Nick Name
Father of Indexing
Link
Dates
5/8/1929 - 1/16/2019
John Bogle was the Founder of The Vanguard Group and President of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He is best known for revolutionalizing the mutual fund world by pioneering index investing, which allows investors to buy mutual funds that track the broader market. One of his countless pioneering achievements was low-cost investing in mutual funds by creating no-load funds. As an avid investor and money manager, Bogle preached investment over-speculation, long-term patience over short-term action, and reduced broker fees.
Jack Bogle Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Academic History
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Economics - Magna Cum Laude
EARLY LIFE
- Bogle was born May 8, 1929 in Montclair, New Jersey with his twin brother David Caldwell.
- The twins followed their older brother to Blair Academy in 1945 and graduated in 1947.
- He entered Princeton University as a scholarship student, working as a waiter in the dining halls and in the athletic ticket office to pay for his education.
- He studied economics, writing his thesis on the then-unknown mutual fund industry, and graduated magna cum laude in 1951.
CAREER
- After Princeton, Bogle was hired by Walter Morgan, founder of the Wellington Fund
- He was the driving force behind Wellington’s growth into a mutual fund family.
- A dispute with new partners at the Fund lead to his firing and subsequently his founding in 1975 of The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies.
- He created Vanguard in 1974 and pioneered passive investing by introducing the Vanguard Index Fund in 1976.
- He broke from industry tradition again in 1977, when Vanguard ceased to market its funds through brokers and instead offered them directly to investors, eliminating sales charges.
- He retired as Vanguard C.E.O. in 1999 but showed few signs of slowing down.
- He then served as president of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center, making speeches and writing occasional op-eds.
NOTES
- Revered by individual investors, Bogle even developed a cult following among some dyed-in-the-wool Vanguard clients calling themselves "Bogleheads."
- He is considered the Thomas Edison of index funds.
- He is a strong proponent of passive investing, suggesting holding index funds for the long term.
- He claimed that passive investing is better than active investing; passive investing fees are lower.
- He is one of the most prominent buy-and-hold advocates.
- He warned in a 2018 Wall Street Journal article that Passive Index Funding may have grown to be too large a % of the entire markets.
- He believed active Managers are unable to beat the market.
MEDIA
- A ready source to the news media, Bogle was a frequent commentator on the financial markets, the fund industry, and business practices.
- He also dispensed sage and straightforward advice to individual investors during guest appearances on numerous financial programs on TV, radio, and the web.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
- Throughout his lifetime, Bogle received numerous additional awards and honors.
- In January 2012, some of the nation’s most respected financial leaders celebrated his career at the John C. Bogle Legacy Forum.
- In 2010, Forbes magazine described him as the person who “has done more good for investors than any other financier of the past century.”
- In 2004, Time magazine named him as "one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people."
- In 2004, Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
- In 2000, he was named by the Commonwealth's Chamber of Commerce as Pennsylvania's Business Leader of the Year.
- In 1999, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, Inc.
- In 1999, FORTUNE designated him as one of the investment industry's four "Giants of the 20th Century."
- In 1999, he received the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University for "distinguished achievement in the nation's service."
- In 1998, he was presented the Award for Professional Excellence from the Association for Investment Management and Research.
- In 1997, Macmillan Press named him one of the "Financial Leaders of the 20th Century" in Leadership in Financial Services.
- In 1993, he received the Philadelphia Investment Achievement Award from the Financial Analysts of Philadelphia.
HONORARY DOCTORATE DEGREES
- New School University
- Eastern University
- Albright College
- Susquehanna University