To Principals and Veterans,

As one who wrote a book entitled Enough., I’m wondering whether my mission to serve investors hasn’t now gotten “enough” attention in this 60th year of my career.

I raise this (delightful) concern following the “JCB Legacy Day” celebration on Wall Street three weeks ago, for this morning I received a copy of the current issue of Journal of Indexes, devoted almost entirely to my work-”The Bogle Issue.”

It includes comments from a wide range of industry participants about my role in making the financial world-and especially the mutual fund world-a better place for investors. Particularly interesting are the kind comments of our own Gus Sauter and Burt Malkiel, and the analysis of Chris Philips in “The Case for Indexing.” (Thanks, group!)

I’m attaching just a few excerpts from the 64 pages(!) published in JOI, including the crossword puzzle (pretty exciting to have that!).

I’ll get some extra copies of “The Bogle Issue” for those who want to see more of it … though I expect that most of you will find these attachments “enough.”

Best,

Jack Bogle

Journal of Indexes Attachment

Jack Bogle on CBS Evening News, Part 1

To Principals and Veterans:

Three items that may be of interest:

Next Monday and Tuesday (and possibly Wednesday), CBS Evening News will present excerpts from a group interview yesterday on the problems facing America, our nation’s challenges and our hopes.  The interview was conducted by new anchor Scott Pelley (moving over from “60 Minutes”).  He did, I thought, a really outstanding job.  I was honored to be part of the ten-person panel – a diverse group of citizens of various ages, genders, races, and backgrounds.  If you happen to catch any of the shows, I’d be interested in your reaction.

Last Friday, Michael Smerconish wrote a generous column in The Philadelphia Inquirer, discussing my reaction to the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and its many aspects.  In case you missed it, a copy is attached.  (Not sure about being called a “patrician.”)

Virtually every day, I receive complimentary letters about Vanguard and my long career.  I couldn’t possibly circulate all of them, but I just received a very special one.  It comes from James Grant, publisher of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer and host of a well-attended and prestigious semi-annual forum for senior money managers.  Their reaction to Jim’s interview with me was truly remarkable.  He describes it in his lovely letter, also attached.

Thanks to you all for doing the exceptional work you do.  Happily, much of it continues to reflect on me.

                                                                                              Best,

                                                                                              Jack

Attachment – Michael Smerconish article and note from James Grant.

Memo to: Veterans and Principals

            I’m attaching a copy of a Wall Street Journal interview with me by Jason Zweig that appeared in the WSJ last Saturday, September 10.  I think you’ll enjoy the perspective.

            The interview arose from a request by the WSJ for a taped conversation with Jason Zweig for wsj.com.  That interview took place last Wednesday and began to run over the weekend on the web.

            I’m told it got the second highest number of “hits” (or whatever the right formulation is) in the WSJ website over the weekend.  The first tape ran on Saturday and you might enjoy that too (warning: it runs about 20 minutes).  If you have time, you might want to give it a glance.

Jack

To Principals and Veterans:

In case you missed my op-ed in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, I’m attaching a copy. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it. Also attached is a lovely article from the coming edition of Forbes.

Best,

Jack

To the Veterans and Principals:

I’m attaching a fun speech I gave last evening at the JFK Library in Boston at the 50th aIll1iversary of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. (It’s a long story!) Entitled “How Calvin Coolidge Could Guide Us Today,” it includes a number of historical references that I think you’ll enjoy.

Also attached is an article from Bloomberg Business Week on Vanguard’s becoming the largest firm in our industry, essentially a summary of a much more extensive article on Bloomberg.com. Since this article is laced with some wonderful quotes from independent sources that I’m sure you’ll enjoy, I’ve included it as well.

Not to be too picky, but the story substantially underscores our advantage in asset size, stated as Vanguard $1.31 trillion, Fidelity $1.24 trillion. In fact, the totals are Vanguard $1.39 trillion, Fidelity $1.17 trillion-an edge of $220 billion. Excluding money market funds and counting only stock and bond funds, the totals are: Vanguard $1.22 trillion, Fidelity $730 billion, a staggering edge of almost $500 billion.

Numbers are mere numbers, and size is only size. (And don’t ever forget that “the bigger they are the harder they fall.”) What remains important are the basic human values and the simple investment strategies established at our founding, which–despite the challenges engendered by our electrifying growth to industry preeminence-remain the primary basis for the enormous trust that investors have placed in all of us.

Best always,

Jack

To: Principals and Veterans

I’m sure you’ll enjoy these recent “items of interest” that are attached.

A. No, it wasn’t I who wrote this ringing endorsement of indexing in the current (January-February) issue of The Financial Analysts Journal. It was respected (and totally objective) academic Mark Kritzman, CFA, who lays out-in just three pungent pages-something all of us at Vanguard know: “Elevating wmecessary expenses is the most reliable path to higher returns.”

B. A similar philosophy is described in Financial Times, where journalist Tom Stabile writes: “Investing passively should (be) the norm … and active management should come with a brighter warning sticker.”

C. A perfectly marvelous letter from a long-time Vanguard shareholder. (I get at least one letter like this just about every day.) Interestingly, this 1999 investor hit those two big market bumps along the way, but his original $890,000 is now worth $1,023,000, after $443,000 in withdrawals. (He’s now moving to a more conservative allocation than the original 20 percent in our bond funds). Investing his life’s savings at Vanguard was, he writes, “the best decision of my life.”

D. Alas, a bit self-serving. I’m so pleased that my essay “The Fiduciary Principle” has won the Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy 2010 award for Outstanding Article in The Journal ofPortfolio Management. This comes as a nice “twofer,” since my earlier essay “A Question So Important …” won the award in 2009. (You may recall that my essays “Black Monday and Black Swans” and “Markets in Crisis” won Graham and Dodd awards at the Financial Analysts Journal in 2008 and 2009, respectively, so I’ve got quite a remarkable streak going.) I believe that the constant pounding home to financial professionals of the flaws in the markets and the importance of traditional investment principles has been a major asset to our firm. I hope you agree.

Best,

Jack