The Bogle Effect - by Eric Balchunas (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The Bogle Effect takes readers through financial areas, such as active management, ETFs, the advisory world, quantitative investing, ESG, behavioral finance and even trading platforms, to show how they-and the investors they serve-are being reshaped and reformed"--

Book Synopsis

The index fund wouldn't be jack without Jack. It was just one innovation fueled by The Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle's radical idea in 1975 to make investors the actual owners of his new fund company. While the move was as much to save his job as it was to save investors, the end result was powerful: a fund company for the people and by the people. Bogle began a 50-year process of lowering costs inch by inch, which ultimately unleashed a populist revolt that has saved average investors trillions of dollars while reforming and right-sizing much of the entire financial industry.

Today, nearly every dollar invested in America goes to either Vanguard funds or Vanguard-influenced funds. But Bogle's impact and this "great cost migration" reaches well beyond index funds into many other areas, such as active management, ETFs, the advisory world, quantitative investing, ESG, behavioral finance and even trading platforms. The Bogle Effect takes readers through each of these worlds to show how they--and the investors they serve--are being reshaped and reformed.

While hundreds of fund providers have copied the index fund that Vanguard made popular no one is yet to copy its "mutual" ownership structure. Why? This book explores that question as well as what made Bogle such an anomaly--seemingly immune to the overwhelming magnet of ambition that dictates Wall Street, made famous by movies like Wall Street, The Big Short, and The Wolf of Wall Street. On the flip side, Bogle wasn't perfect by any stretch--he could be moralizing, cantankerous, and tended to make virtue out of necessity.

The Bogle Effect is animated by the author's hours of one-on-one, exclusive interviews with Bogle in the years before he passed, which reveal his philosophy, vision, intellect, and humor. Dozens of additional interviews with people who worked with him, lived with him, were influenced by him, and disagreed with him round out a portrait of this revolutionary figure.

You will never look at the financial industry or your portfolio the same way again.

Review Quotes

""". . . it's hard to think of a better tour guide than Bloomberg's own resident ETF guru for the story of John Bogle, Vanguard, and how they transformed the index fund/ETF landscape for the betterment of the individual investor.""
--Phil Huber, CFA, CFP, BPS and Pieces

""What The Bogle Effect reads like is a really immersive documentary, with commentary along the way from many people in finance who knew him, crossed swords with him, or were influenced by him along the way.""
--Robin Powell, The Evidence-Based Investor (TEBI)

""We are on the threshold of a new era, one in which the power of large numbers beats expertise . . . Let Eric Balchunas be your guide as we leave behind the old world and go charging into the new one.""
--DowntownJoshBrown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, star of CNBC's The Halftime Report

""Eric Balchunas has not only written the definitive professional biography of John Bogle, but he has done so with a penetrating honesty and narrative grace rare in the genre. Read, enjoy, and, most important, absorb the wisdom of the most important investor ever to have lived.""
--William J. Bernstein, Author of The Four Pillars of Investing and A Splendid Exchange

""Balchunas has written a rare beast: a delightful read that humanizes one of the icons of finance, while at the same time providing a meaty argument for how our modern financial world has been shaped by the genius, goodness, luck, and perhaps arrogance of one man.""
--Dave Nadig, Director of Research and CIO, ETF Trends and ETF Database

""A riveting story of a once in a lifetime, transformational figure for the fund industry. A candid look at the birth of passive investing and its subsequent revolution.""
--Aye Soe, Head of Product, S&P Dow Jones Indices

""""Eric Balchunas's The Bogle Effect is a powerful and captivating exploration of how John Bogle and Vanguard revolutionized the entire financial industry. A must-read for Wall Street beginners and veterans alike.""""
--Arthur Levitt, Former Chairman, the Securities and Exchange Commission

""Thanks to Jack Bogle, there's no longer any dumb money in the stock market. Also thanks to Jack Bogle, the smart money has to work that much harder to prove they're worth the fees they charge to beat the market. In The Bogle Effect, Eric Balchunas expertly shows how Jack Bogle built Vanguard into the Amazon of the asset management industry: a disruptive, disintermediary and deflationary force that's left its competitors scrambling.""
--Scarlet Fu, Quicktake Anchor, Bloomberg, and senior markets editor, Bloomberg Television

""Balchunas provides one of the first ever exhaustive looks behind the veil of the high fee asset management business and the dramatic impact that John Bogle played (and still plays) in saving the retail investor billions of dollars.""
--Cullen Roche, Founder, Discipline Funds

""The Bogle Effect will change the way you look at the financial industry forever. Balchunas' insights give readers a fresh and unique look at how Bogle and The Vanguard Group revolutionized both portfolios and Wall Street. A must-read for all.""
--Mary Schapiro, Vice Chair for Global Public Policy, Bloomberg, and Former Chair, US Securities and Exchange Commission

""""Jack Bogle did more for investors than anyone else, ever. He was brave enough to wave a pirate flag, take on Wall Street, and change the world. And no one will help you appreciate Bogle's radical simplicity quite like Eric Balchunas.""""
--Joel Weber, Editor, Bloomberg Businessweek

""Jack Bogle is famous and revered--but not nearly as famous and revered as he should be. Eric Balchunas' new book should help on both counts. Read it and learn. Read it and be amazed what one determined man did for the average investor.""
--Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University and Former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve

""Mr. Balchunas's book does a nice job of bringing Mr. Bogle to life from many angles.""
--Ann H. Logan, Abycats' Thoughts

""The conclusions drawn by the author offer a unique perspective on a financial industry titan.""
--Heather Bell, ETF.com

""It'skindoflikeabiographyofJackBogleandalsokindoflikeatributetohim. [Jack Bogle]reallywasasaint, justtotally one-of-a-kind, excellentbook.Totally recomend TheBogle Effect.""
--Ben Carlson, Animal Spirits Podcast"

About the Author

Eric Balchunas is Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, where he leads the ETF and passive fund research and contributes to Bloomberg Opinion. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, as well as the co creator of the Bloomberg podcast Trillions and Bloomberg TV's ETF IQ. Eric is author of The Institutional ETF Toolbox. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two boys.