Description
Book SynopsisPraise for Don''t Count On It! This collection of Jack Bogle''s writings couldn''t be more timely. The clarity of his thinkingand his insistence on the relevance of ethical standardsare totally relevant as we strive to rebuild a broken financial system. For too many years, his strong voice has been lost amid the cacophony of competing self-interests, misdirected complexity, and unbounded greed. Read, learn, and support Jack''s mission to reform the industry that has been his life''s work.
PAUL VOLCKER, Chairman of the President''s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve (19791987)
Jack Bogle has given investors throughout the world more wisdom and plain financial ''horse sense'' than any person in the history of markets. This compendium of his best writings, particularly his post-crisis guidance, is absolutely essential reading for investors and those who care about the future of our society.
ARTHUR LEVI
Trade Review
“Don’t Count on It! is a wise book. As most traders and investors remain convinced that they can beat the market, it’s always sobering to hear a compelling voice from the other side.” (Seeking Alpha)
"If Bogle writes it, it’s worth reading. His latest, Don’t Count On It, is a collection of 35 essays, every one of them filled with wisdom and insight. . . While I have read Bogle’s views on these issues many times, I’m always impressed with the quality of his writing (Where else can you read quotations from Adam Smith to Winston Churchill to Cato?), the wit and humility he shows and his passion to help investors. The book is a compelling read, one that in effect tells the story and mission of a great man. We’re lucky and privileged to have him fighting on our side. As Bogle noted in his book, Machiavelli “described the accumulation of worldly ‘glory’ as the motivating principle that drives leaders to undertake ‘great enterprises’ and do ‘great things’ on behalf of their fellow citizens and not just themselves.” Hard to find a better description of Bogle himself." (MarketWatch)
“Mr Bogle’s prescription for a better system is relatively simple: to demand proper fiduciary management from money managers. They must prioritise client interests, act as responsible corporate citizens, charge reasonable fees and eliminate conflicts of interest. Amen to that. It may sound like nostalgia from an old-timer, or idealism from a visionary. But without such changes, investors and society will continue to be short-changed as the financial community carries on regardless.” (Financial Times)
“In Don’t Count on It! Reflections on Investment Illusions, Capitalism, “Mutual” Funds, Indexing, Entrepreneurship, Idealism, and Heroes, Bogle hammers at what he labels the cost matters hypothesis: Whether markets are efficient or inefficient, investors as a group must fall short of the market return by precisely the amount of the aggregate costs they incur. It is the central fact of investing. Not surprisingly, the book deals extensively with the low-cost innovation for which Vanguard is best known: the stock index mutual fund. When the company first made indexing available to small investors in 1975, critics derided the notion as “Bogle’s folly.” To Bogle, however, the benefits to investors were irrefutable. . . The impact of indexing has been so great that a second, hugely important contribution by Vanguard has been overshadowed. Vanguard originated the now standard segmentation of bond funds into short-, intermediate-, and long-term varieties. Bogle was enshrined in the Fixed Income Analysts Society Hall of Fame for this innovation. The author of Don’t Count on It! does not dwell on such honors, which include being named one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people by Time magazine. In fact, Bogle devotes the final section of his book to tributes to four of his own heroes: Walter Morgan, economist Paul Samuelson, investment guru Peter Bernstein, and Dr. Bernard Lown, a Nobel laureate whom he credits with keeping him alive in defiance of a mystifying heart ailment. Bogle also shows modesty in sharing credit for his contributions to the field and in downplaying his own theoretical expertise. His unashamed display of such old-fashioned virtues, as well as his heretical view that running a business is not entirely about maximizing the wealth of the owners, has earned him the nickname ‘St. Jack.’” (Financial Analysts Journal)
Table of ContentsForeword xi
Introduction xv
A Note to the Reader xxxi
Part One. Investment Illusions 1
Chapter 1 Don’t Count on It! The Perils of Numeracy 5
Chapter 2 The Relentless Rules of Humble Arithmetic 25
Chapter 3 The Telltale Chart 49
Chapter 4 A Question So Important That It Should Be Hard to Think about Anything Else 71
Chapter 5 The Uncanny Ability to Recognize the Obvious 87
Part Two. The Failure of Capitalism 97
Chapter 6 What Went Wrong in Corporate America? 101
Chapter 7 Fixing a Broken Financial System 123
Chapter 8 Vanishing Treasures: Business Values and Investment Values 137
Chapter 9 A Crisis of Ethic Proportions 157
Chapter 10 Black Monday and Black Swans 161
Chapter 11 The Go-Go Years 187
Part Three. What’s Wrong with “Mutual” Funds 203
Chapter 12 Re-Mutualizing the Mutual Fund Industry: The Alpha and the Omega 207
Chapter 13 A New Order of Things: Bringing Mutuality to the “Mutual” Fund 237
Chapter 14 The Fiduciary Principle: No Man Can Serve Two Masters 273
Chapter 15 Mutual Funds at the Millennium: Fund Directors and Fund Myths 297
Chapter 16 “High Standards of Commercial Honor . . . Just and Equitable Principles of Trade . . . Fair Dealing with Investors” 317
Part Four. What’s Right with Indexing 347
Chapter 17 Success in Investment Management: What Can We Learn from Indexing? 351
Chapter 18 As the Index Fund Moves from Heresy to Dogma, What More Do We Need to Know? 369
Chapter 19 “The Chief Cornerstone” 393
Chapter 20 Convergence! The Great Paradox: Just as Active Fund Management Becomes More and More Like Passive Indexing, So Passive Indexing Becomes More and More Like Active Fund Management 409
Part Five. Entrepreneurship and Innovation 435
Chapter 21 Capitalism, Entrepreneurship, and Investing: The 18th Century versus the 21st Century 439
Chapter 22 Seventeen Rules of Entrepreneurship 455
Chapter 23 “Vanguard: Saga of Heroes” 469
Chapter 24 When Does Innovation Go Too Far? 493
Part Six. Idealism and the New Generation 507
Chapter 25 Business as a Calling 511
Chapter 26 The Right Kind of Success 517
Chapter 27 “This Above All: To Thine Own Self Be True” 521
Chapter 28 “Enough” 529
Chapter 29 If You Can Trust Yourself . . . 535
Chapter 30 The Fifth “Never” 543
Chapter 31 “When a Man Comes to Himself ” 549
Part Seven. Heroes and Mentors 557
Chapter 32 Walter L. Morgan 563
Chapter 33 Paul A. Samuelson 569
Chapter 34 Peter L. Bernstein 575
Chapter 35 Bernard Lown, MD 581
Index 587
