John Bogle’s influence went beyond introducing the world to low-cost index funds. His integrity and passion carry equal weight with his wise counsel in the eyes of individual investors.

Following the passing of John Bogle in January, we asked AAII members for their memories. We received many letters from AAII members, some who knew the founder of Vanguard, some who met him and some who were influenced by him. Below is a sample of the responses we received, lightly edited for space and clarity.
—Charles Rotblut, CFA

Jack Was Right!

Having started my 403(b) in mutual funds with loads, I was lucky to have had a few colleagues who took me under their wings and started me on the road to investing in no-load, low-cost mutual funds. Of course, one of two places I ended up was at Vanguard. Over many years of investing at Vanguard, I came to know John Bogle’s name.

I read many investment newsletters, articles, as well as magazines (Kiplinger’s, Money, etc.). I remember the full-body shot of Bogle on the cover of Money Magazine and the headline saying something like, “You Were Right” (indexing versus actively managed funds). Of course, for years, Money insisted that investing in actively managed funds made sense. It was very nice to have witnessed that tribute to Bogle, who I consider a hero for individual investors.

I only wish more people were lucky enough to have followed his spot-on advice and stayed away from their cousin, uncle or best friend who was selling snake oil.

RIP John Bogle, a true hero to the masses!
—Richard Rabideau

He Had a Big Influence

No person that I never met had more of an effect on my life. God bless Saint John Bogle. He was the proponent of the average person.
—Michael Scully

Champion of the Individual Investor

John Bogle was a champion of the individual investor. Before Bogle, investors were faced with paying 8% commissions to invest in mutual funds, as well as paying high ongoing management fees. Bogle changed all that. He changed the whole industry. He has been referred to as St. John with good reason.

Bogle described his calling as a passion for the individual investor. It could also be said that what he did for the individual investor was out of love. A love to serve others, a love to prosper others. His life personifies love. A love for his calling. A love for his family and a love for those he wanted to benefit from what he believed in. Love for others is his legacy.
—Paul Sherwood

A Vanguard Investor for Decades

I have been a Vanguard investor for decades. What originally prompted me to invest with them were investor ownership of the company, low expenses and a solid lineup of bond funds.

Later I added stock funds—still mostly actively managed—as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and I read several of Jack Bogle’s books, which made eminent sense to me. I then learned from him to stay the course, making only changes to the portfolio for rebalancing or to eliminate a consistently lagging fund. It dawned on me, why sell and pay one-third of my profit for taxes when any correction might usually be less than the tax I’d pay?

Bogle was a wonderful gift to the average investor, and I send my sincere condolences to Vanguard and his family.
—Ed Spiller

Lunch With Jack

I had lunch with Jack last summer, three of us at a favorite spot of his.

We talked about family charitable trusts; he and I both use them as a family benefit as well as good tax planning. (His trust is substantially larger than ours.) I have used children and grandchildren as managers and trustees, Jack confessed he needed to do more of that; answering grant requests was becoming burdensome.

We had some light conversation about the prospect of growing Vanguard’s assets under management (AUM) through new offerings. He was decidedly against the idea. He thought that once AUM reached trillions of dollars, you were building corporate ego rather than efficiency.
—Robert Heerdt

His Ideas Helped Us

I was never fortunate enough to meet or hear Mr. Bogle in person, but his ideas greatly influenced my investment decisions over the past 30 years. As a result, my husband and I are able to enjoy a financially secure retirement. Thank you, Mr. Bogle. May you rest in peace.
—Linda Boelter

The Vanguard Man’s Influence

Young married and our first child was on the way. We had zero plans for savings until we heard “The Vanguard Man” speak. We followed his advice as best we could. My own father talked with us, but the greatest influence was “The Vanguard Man.”

God bless him and give him peace. Thank you. Thank you.
—Joseph Gill

The Gold Standard of Investing

I have been a Vanguard client since the mid-1970s, around the time they opened their doors. I started with a money market fund, which was most valuable during a period of high inflation when banks were not allowed by the Fed to pay more than 5.25% on their savings accounts.

I was a little slow to see the advantages of index funds. [My first investment in the Vanguard 500 Index fund (VFINX) was not until the late 1980s.] What got my attention was that index funds paid little to no capital gains distributions, which was a boon to my taxable investments.

I have always considered Vanguard to be the gold standard of investing, and this is primarily due to the high standards embraced by Jack Bogle.
—Victor Genez

Great Advice!

The quote from Jack, “You need me to keep you from doing anything” [“Common Investor Mistakes and Other Investing Insights,” an interview with John Bogle, AAII Journal, July 2014] is perfect. I have to do that with some of my relatives every year. They want to know, “What should I do now?” The answer is still “nothing.”
—Steve Helton

Introducing Bogle at the AAII Philadelphia Chapter

“From my point of view as an individual investor, John Bogle’s greatest achievement by far was his structuring and running of the Vanguard group of funds in a way that gives its funds’ shareholders a fair deal. The business model of quite a lot of mutual fund management companies is that we investors are ripe oranges, and the fund management companies and their distribution networks are juice machines. They squeeze juice out of our bank accounts with sales commissions followed by the highest expense ratio that the market will bear. Then to squeeze out some more juice, they create fad-stock specialty mutual funds, just when the market for the underlying securities is at its top. And an alarming number of well-known fund companies have gone one step further, to squeeze out the last few drops of juice. They allowed big-time sharpies to skim some of the profits from individual investors in exchange for management fees.

Bogle created the very opposite type of mutual fund management company. He designed and ran Vanguard in a way that minimized expenses.”
—Gerald Levin, AAII Philadelphia Chapter secretary, introducing Bogle before he spoke to the chapter in 1999

A Great Man

I met John Bogle once at an AAII meeting where he was the speaker. I talked to him another time on the phone: He was being interviewed by public radio in Philadelphia, and I called in. Years ago, I interviewed for a job at Vanguard. I left my copy of his book with his secretary and he signed it for me. Great man. He will be missed.
—Sebastian Cannavo

An Advocate for Investors

I never met Jack, but I do remember reading a great story that must be part of any remembrance. I read an article written by a Vanguard shareholder perhaps 30 years ago. She was next in line behind him at the check-in desk at a hotel. She didn’t recognize him at first and was shocked that the man in hard negotiation to get the best rate for the night was the Vanguard CEO.

I’m guessing that there are probably many stories like this about the man who made his life’s work of advocating for his investors.
—Broc Hite

Bogle’s Words Mirrored Father’s Advice

I never met or heard John Bogle speak. However, I have read all of his books, and they persuaded me to adopt a passive investing style in Vanguard index funds. His advice has paid off handsomely with our investments.

My wife does not follow financial investing as closely as I do. Nonetheless, she has read his books and treasures them because his words mirrored her father’s comments on finances and word patterns. Her father has been dead for over 15 years. Reading Bogle’s books make her feel reconnected to her father.
—Paul Manka

He Told the Truth About Executive Pay

I recall seeing a TV interview of John Bogle, and I am guessing that it was about 20 years ago. John pointed out how much executive compensations had grown and how outrageous they had become—amounting to theft with impunity.

I don’t recall seeing John again on TV. I bet that John knew that he would not be seen on the media much after that interview, but he told the truth and paid the price, and I admire him for that.
—Ernest Wittenbreder

Bogle Got Me to Retirement

I never met Mr. Bogle, but he had a huge impact on my life. I discovered him by reading Money Magazine. I discovered the Vanguard fund family there, and the low-fee approach to investing, as well as indexing, which was rare in those days. Through discipline, and some good and bad decisions, I’ve made it to retirement. The cornerstone of my retirement is Vanguard funds. As various scandals regarding mutual funds have occurred over the years, Vanguard has always come out as a standard by which other fund families are measured. It’s because of the values of Mr. Bogle. I will be forever in his debt, and grateful for his approach to investing.
—Charles Hooper

Index Funds Have Helped Us

I/we are extremely grateful and deeply indebted to John (“Jack”) Bogle. As “small” individual investors, we have benefited considerably from his idea and subsequent implementation initiative of creating low-cost index-based investment vehicles/funds. Utilizing these funds through a disciplined saving/investment plan and a small inheritance, we have been able to achieve—over a 30-year-plus time period—a level of personal financial wealth that permits us to live “comfortably!”
—Allan P. Rahn

We Could Use More Bogles

So many individual investors, including me, mourn the loss of a great human being, John Bogle, for the gift of knowledge, truth and kindness that he imparted to me and all individual investors (mainly smaller investors).

I retired in the 1990s and had to learn how to manage my financial assets. I learned thanks to Bob Brinker’s Marketimer newsletter and weekly weekend radio broadcast shows, which occasionally featured Bogle as an on-air guest. Brinker also featured Bogle’s books on the program’s reading list along with a shout-out to AAII’s speaker program in New York City where I was able to listen to, learn from and converse with this brilliant and kindly human being on two different evenings.

At one local chapter meeting, Bogle started his presentation by saying that although he was already in his mid-60s, he felt much younger and full of vigor because he has the heart of a 25-year-old. (He explained his transplant.)

This country could use a few dozen more Bogle equivalents at this point in time.
—Richard Jacoby