October 21, 2013
To Veterans and Principals,
The press reports mentioning Vanguard just keep pouring in! Here are a few that may be of special interest.
WSJ-1: “Give me a B . . .” Monday, October 7, 2013. An impressive piece about the Bogleheads coming to visit to our campus. A capacity crowd of 209 Bogleheads joined us on October 16-18, representing a “fan club” that now includes 37,000(!) members.
WSJ-2: A Nobel for the Random Walk . . . Tuesday, October 15, 2013. This op-ed piece claimed that “one beneficiary of Mr. Fama’s insight [on the ‘Efficient Market Hypothesis’] was John Bogle.” Alas, wrong on two counts: (1) I have never accepted the EMH and don’t today. (2) It was Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson who was the major inspiration for the creation of the first index fund. So . . .
WSJ-3: Eugene Fama and Efficient Financial Market Theory. Saturday, October 19, 2013. My “no-punches-pulled” response to that op-ed, reaffirming my own CMH (look it up!) and its supremacy. I quickly received an apologetic note from the author of the original piece, reading simply, “I blew it.”
WSJ-4: Should You Invest for the Fun of It? Saturday, October 19, 2013. A long piece of journalism, with numerous quotes from former Vanguard director Burton Malkiel and me. To sum up: “funny money” should amount to no more than 5% of your investments . . .
NYT-1: The Erosive Effect of Expenses . . . Wednesday, October 16, 2013. From a special Times section on WEALTH, some of my comments on why investors must consider not only the drag of fund expense ratios on their long-term investment returns, but also the “hidden” costs of fund portfolio transactions, cash drag, and sales loads and fees for distribution and advice.
M*01: Bogle, Buffett, Dad: Readers’ Top Investment Influences. Sunday, October 6, 2013. From Morningstar’s Christine Benz, yet another poll, this one citing the opinions of investors naming the individuals who’ve had the biggest influence on their investment philosophies. You’ll have to read this short piece to see who it was that edged out the great Buffett for the top spot.
MF-1: Investing Legend . . . Wednesday, October 2, 2013. A nice piece that honors Vanguard’s recent 39th birthday, and provides some welcome perspective on index funds, and on staying the course. “The trick to what I’ve done in investing is I don’t do anything. I look, and watch, and observe, and laugh.”
Whether we should wish it to or not, the spate of positive mentions of our firm and our philosophy seems unlikely to slow down. Phew!
Best to all,
Jack