To: Vanguard Veterans and Principals
From: John C. Bogle
Date: September 4, 2015
Re: Vanguard in the Press
Things didn’t slow down much this summer, and I’m pleased to attach another eight stories of special interest.
(1) “The Power of Story,” Forbes, August 22, 2015. It’s always nice to be compared to a genius—in this case Albert Einstein. Here, we are both cited for, “a compelling narrative that inspires a shared sense of mission . . . [and] a long and great legacy.” If the story is valid, it is up to you who lead our crew to determine how long, and how great.
(2) “. . . king of the tracker funds,” The (London) Telegraph, July 30, 2015. (Yes, that’s a young me, age 39, in the photo.) Our John Woerth handled the story with journalist Ed Monk, but later had to correct two errors. “. . . born out of corporate frustration” should read “corporate conflict.” And . . . “go gently into that good night” should read “go gentle.”
(3) “Why 99% of trading is pointless,” MarketWatch, July 30, 2015. Here, journalist Mitch Tuchman puts his own harsh spin on my long-standing view that stock trading is a loser’s game for investors and a winner’s game for brokers.
(4) “The super secret weapon of CEOs,” BBC, July 15, 2015. In Elizabeth MacBride’s view, that super secret weapon is poetry, helping leaders to “adopt a certain way of thinking about . . . broad concepts and challenges.” Her first example cites me and “Ozymandias” (read the story), and my concept that “caring . . . must be the soul of any institution worth its salt.”
(5) “Has the Index Fund Won?” Money, August 2015. All of us at Vanguard know the answer to that question, and I reaffirm it in this interview. “It certainly has.” While some of my responses to journalist Pat Regnier are apparently controversial, none of them are new, and most of them—on ETFs, international allocations, cost, and transparency—reflect positions that I’ve publically held for at least two decades.
(6) (7) (8) Three stories on the recent unpleasantness in the stock market: CNBC on August 24, Market Watch on August 27, and on CNBC again on August 28, 2015. My message remains consistent (“Stay the Course”), but cautious (in this case to Elizabeth MacBride on CNBC), “. . . stay invested, control your fear, and keep your fingers crossed.”
Hope you all had a great summer.
Best,
Jack