John Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years

This work chronicles John Bogle's - the founder and former senior chairman of the Vanguard Group - 50 years in the financial services industry. His university thesis on the role of an investment company is included, along with speeches made by him over the past 40 years. The themes of investing for the long term, the importance of indexing, the critical effect of costs on investment returns, and the importance of diversification, are all covered.

John Bogle­­Vanguard Founder and No-Load Pioneer­­Talks about Finance, Economics, Mutual Funds, Stewardship, and Idealism

John C. Bogle is one of the 20th century's towering financial giants. Deeply concerned by the devastating impact of high mutual fund costs on the long-term returns earned by investors, he founded Vanguard in 1974. In the space of a few years, he introduced the index mutual fund, pioneered the modern no-load mutual fund, and redefined bond fund management. By creating a novel mutual mutual fund enterprise owned by its shareholders, he gave millions of investors a new and high-powered way to invest and was among the first authoritative voices to challenge the financial establishment.

And John Bogle is still in there fighting. John Bogle on Investing contains the best of the scores of speeches he's delivered over the years and revisits the important investment themes from which Bogle rarely strayed during his illustrious career:

-The majesty of simplicity in investment strategy
-The productive economics of long-term investing
-The counterproductive emotions that can forfeit investment success
-The universality of indexing in the financial markets
-Minimizing the "fiscal drag" of sales charges, management fees, turnover costs, and opportunity cost

Within these covers you will find nothing less than the rock solid foundation of success in indepENDent investing for the 21st century. Tough, insightful, and relentless in its drive for fairness and honesty, John Bogle on Investing creates a high standard for McGraw-Hill's new Great Ideas in Finance series­­and then surpasses that standard, page after page.

"John C. Bogle . . . has the mind of an economist and the personality of a preacher."
­­Washington Post

One half century ago, an "insecure but determined" Princeton undergrad was already showing signs of becoming a maverick. Barely out of his teens but already firm in his convictions that mutual fund shareholders were not receiving a fair shake, the budding financier turned in an exhaustively researched magna cum laude thesis entitled The Economic Role of the Investment Company.

That student was John Clifton Bogle, and that thesis­­groundbreaking, innovative, and reprinted word-for-word in these pages for the first time­­unalterably changed the future course of investing. John Bogle on Investing is a 50-year compENDium that recounts in the best possible words­­his own­­the storied career of Jack Bogle, the man who has been called "the conscience of the mutual fund industry."

"Bogle is rattling the status quo among the mutual fund titans."­­Fortune

In its 26 chapters, John Bogle on Investing presents 25 speeches and one masterful thesis. They all revolve around one common theme: Efficient, economical, and honest alternatives must be made available to all investors of all wealth levels. Just as important, these investors must understand the choices available to them. From sensible discussions of wealth accumulation and investment risk, through a provocative call-to-arms regarding investment costs, each selection is exceptionally well written, meticulously researched, and documented with charts and graphs. In all, the book is classic Bogle. Whether discussing the virtues of low-expense indexing ("Low cost, marginal in its annual impact, becomes overwhelming as the years roll on") or the hazards that bull markets may create ("When reward is at its pinnacle, risk is near at hand"), John Bogle never fails to lay his cards face-up on the table for all to see. And we, the readers, emerge the winners.

If you are serious about substantially improving your long-term investment returns, and you read just one book this year, make it John Bogle on Investing. If you plan on reading two books, you should consider reading John Bogle on Investing twice.

It's that valuable, that entertaining, and that good. John Bogle is one of the great financial figures of the 20th century, and this book encapsulates much of the work and wisdom of his 50-year mutual fund career. By reading John Bogle on Investing, you can learn in one evening much of the knowledge John Bogle spent 50 years acquiring.

In a lifetime devoted to giving a fair shake to the human beings who invest to secure their financial futures, this book may be Bogle's best bargain yet.