John Bogle’s Message to Vanguard Crew

February 26, 2009

 To: PRINCIPALS AND VETERANS:

 I’m pleased to attach the testimony that I gave at the House of Representatives on Wednesday on “Strengthening Worker Retirement Security,” before the Committee on Education and Labor.

Also attached are:

1. A recent article from The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporting on my speech entitled “Fixing our Broken Financial System,” given to a large audience invited by Stradley, Ronon, Stevens and Young.

2.  Some wonderful recent reviews by readers of ENOUGH. on Amazon.com. As you’ll see, almost all of the 29 readers who reviewed the book awarded it a 5-star rating.

3. A bit embarrassingly, two pleasing personal achievements, which I think many of you would like to know about. First, my article “Black Monday and Black Swans” was named in the Financial Analysts Journal as the winner of The Graham and Dodd Perspective Article Award of 2008.  Ironically, in 1960, when the G & D Awards were first introduced, my article “The Case for Mutual Fund Management” under the pen name John B. Armstrong (don’t ask) was awarded an Honorable Mention.  Perhaps these two articles-49 years apart are the “book ends” of my writing life.  (But I hope not!)

Second, my article “A Question So Important that it should be Hard to Think about Anything Else” was named one of the three most outstanding articles of 2008 in The Journal of Portfolio Management. Another irony: this article had been rejected by the Financial Analysts Journal (for perfectly sensible reasons). Such a vindication, as it were, is both a surprise and a delight.

To all of you, especially in these volatile times, “Press on, Regardless.”

                                                                                                                        JACK