By: Laura Walton AFC®
Are the followers of Jack Bogle, Vanguard’s founder. This cult for the good of investors first surfaced in 1998 when Morningstar established the Vanguard Diehards Forum. One day in 2001 it received 100,000 postings, the most postings ever received by any Morningstar Forum. The writing was on the wall – it spoke to investors – and morphed into the Bogleheads Forum in 2007.
Today, in addition to the Forum, there’s the wiki (is a reference resource for investors), a Facebook page and regular podcasts and blogs. They have annual conferences and local chapters.
Their creed? Starting early, living below one’s means, regular saving, broad diversification, and sticking to one’s investment plan. Words to live by.
Speaking of words to live by, below are Jack Bogle-isms taken from a Wall Street Journal article by Jason Zweig, The Intelligent Investor:
“Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack.”
“The greatest enemies of the equity investor are expenses and emotions.”
“When there is a gap between perception and reality it is only a matter of time until it is reconciled…in favor of reality.”
“In the fund business, you get what you don’t pay for.”
“While rational expectations can tell us what will happen…they can never tell us when.”
“I built a career out of knowing what I don’t know.”
A simple creed from a straight-forward man who dedicated his career to the individual investor, you and me. Jack Bogle passed in January of this year but his wisdom lives on at Bogleheads.org – browse and enjoy.