December 31, 2013
TO VANGUARD VETERANS AND PRINCIPALS:
“Ring Out the Old, ring in the new,” Tennyson wrote, and continued, “ring out false pride in place and blood; . . . ring in the love of truth and right; ring in the common place of good.”
In that spirit, as the old year 2013 ends I attach the following items from the financial press.
1. Vanguard raked in almost every dollar that went into U.S. equity funds this year. (InvestmentNews, December 18, 2013).
Here, the article is speaking of both actively managed and traditional index funds (TIFs) investing in U.S. equities, excluding exchange traded funds (ETFs). The total cash flows: Vanguard, $41.4 billion of the $42.4 billion total. (Our total includes $36 billion in our index funds and $5.4 billion in our “active” funds.) “Thanks to Mr. Bogle’s creation, the index fund,” journalist Jason Kephart says, “the U.S. Mint may have to replace George Washington with Mr. Bogle on all its quarters.” (Please don’t hang by your thumbs waiting!)
2. Warren Buffett (again!) to the Motley Fool, (December 30, 2013). “If you invested in a very low-cost index fund . . . you’ll do better than 90% of [investors]. . . . Just pick a broad index like the S&P 500 . . . I recommend John Bogle’s books. Any investor in funds should read them. They have all that you need to know.”
3. Bogle urges regulators to move on fiduciary. (InvestmentNews, December 16, 2013). I’m accurately quoted as saying, “if you’re touching other peoples’ money, you are a fiduciary . . . Put the principle first.” (Just what Tennyson said: “Ring in the love of truth and right.”)
Enjoy these three articles. Happy New Year, and best to all.
Jack