Jack Bogle’s impact on investing is difficult to overstate. Although best known for founding Vanguard and launching the first retail index fund, Bogle’s largest impact may have been saving investors more money than anyone else in history. It still amazes me that someone would willingly turn down the opportunity for millions and billions for no reason other than to give it to others. Bogle was a rare breed and we are lucky to have his example (especially those of us working in the financial services). 

Rather than keeping ownership of Vanguard to himself, he structured the firm as a mutual company effectively owned by its funds’ investors. Bogle could have assured himself a much higher income and would have almost certainly become a billionaire many times over had he owned Vanguard outright. Instead, those billions and billions of potential profits subsidized the expenses of Vanguard’s funds and drove investor costs down. Of course, Vanguard has also driven costs down across the entire money management industry. It is difficult to say what the world would look like without Bogle or Vanguard, but I suspect we would all be paying a lot more expenses. So where does this extreme generosity come from?

Despite growing up in difficult circumstances during and after The Great Depression, Bogle always felt he had enough (he even wrote a book on the topic titled “Enough”). One of Bogle’s favorite stories to share was this one: 

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, the late Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, the author Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch 22 over its whole history. Heller responds, “Yes, but I have something he will never have . . . Enough.” 

Bogle shared that Kurt Vonnegut had also taught him that:

“we should catch young people before they become CEOs, investment bankers, consultants, and money managers (and especially hedge fund managers), and do our best to poison their minds with humanity.”

Bogle had enough and he spent a lot of time imploring others to think and reflect on their professional responsibilities (as opposed to their business interests) and recognize the “true treasures” of life (rather than money). 

History is filled with “philosopher” kings and many billionaires grace us with their opinions that we should all adopt a mindset of enough. Yet, Bogle lived it until the very end. Just a few weeks ago, Bogle shared this in an interview:

Jane Wollman Rusoff: Any regrets?

Jack Bogle: No regrets. I’m not a “trillionaire” like Abby Johnson [Fidelity chairwoman], who is supposed to be worth [$15.4 billion]. I wouldn’t even know what to do with a number like that. We have a nice, small house. We have shelter when it rains, snows or is windy. The kids and grandkids are well. I have the Armstrong Foundation, which has now reached a decent size — and I feel like it could do some good for others.

RIP Jack.