John C. Bogle - Stay the Course

If a statue is ever erected to honor the person who has done the most for American investors, the hands down choice should be Jack Bogle.

Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

Jack Bogles remarkable career spans the spectrum from lonely iconoclast to celebrated rock star. His conception and development of index funds transformed the investment world for individuals and institutions alike. Countless millions of investors have purchased index funds because of Jack.

David F. Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University

What Gutenberg was to the printing press, Henry Ford to the automobile, and Shakespeare to the English language, Jack Bogle is to finance.

William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The Investors Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between

One hundred years from today, historians will remember only two investors from this era Warren Buffett and Jack Bogle. The two books they will note? Buffetts bible, Ben Grahams The Intelligent Investor, and anything written by Jack Bogle. In a world of investment foxes, Jack remains a stalwart hedgehog.

Steve Galbraith, Managing Member, Kindred Capital

Jack Bogle has given investors throughout the world more wisdom and plain financial horse sense than any person in the history of markets.

Arthur Levitt, Former Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Jack Bogle is one of the most lucid men in finance.

Nassim N. Taleb, PhD, author of The Black Swan

Only one man couldve created Vanguard and only one man couldve written this book. Im thankful Jack has done both. Investing for the many has been forever changed for the (much) better by him. Read the story of how it happened.

Clifford Asness, Managing and Founding Principal, AQR Capital Management, LLC

Jack Bogle has done more for the individual investor than perhaps anyone on the planet. His seminal insights and relentless tenacity revolutionized the mutual fund industry, permanently and for the better. Yet for me, the signature of his greatness lies first and foremost in his passion to serve as an inspired teacher to us all. With nearly seventy years of disciplined thought on the topic of investing, Bogles incisive mind and considered wisdom shines through always in his well-chosen words.

Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great, co-author of Built to Last

Its a rare privilege to be handed a backstage pass into the mind and motivation of the man who democratized finance, which is what this remarkable book has done. More than any other single individual, Jack Bogle has improved the lives of millions of investors, allowing us to save and invest for our future at lowest cost, so we really can stay the course. I cant think of a more important story to tell, and Jack tells it beautifully.

Andrew W. Lo, Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor, MIT, author of Adaptive Markets

Jack Bogle a man with a mission.

For a long while, it seemed to me, an almost mission impossible to push the Wall Street establishment into providing individuals and investment institutions alike with practical and economical means for keeping up with the stock markets.

Book after book twelve in all drive home the point. Its rare, extremely rare, for even the most astute investors to beat the stock market averages year after year. And it was expensive to try; fees were high and active trading has costs.

Jack Bogle has won the point. Indexing has swept much of the investing field. Now Jack has provided his valedictory: the saga of a determined boy whose family struggled financially but who thrived at boarding school and Princeton, and then in the investing world, fighting off both the investment establishment and a congenitally weak heart along the way.

Stay the Course puts it all in the broader perspective. Professional and personal battles, won or lost, give way to the larger responsibilities: to family, to communities large and small, to the nation itself.

Paul A. Volcker, Chairman, Federal Reserve Board 1979-1987, author of Keeping at It

I served on the Vanguard board for 28 years. I can attest that every policy that came before the board was resolved by applying a simple criterion: Was the policy good or bad for the individual shareholder? It is small wonder that Jack Bogle has been called the best friend the individual investor has ever had.

Burton G. Malkiel, Chemical Bank Chairmans Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Princeton University, and bestselling author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Cover design: Wiley
Cover image: Christopher Leaman 2018

Copyright 2019 by John C. Bogle. All rights reserved.

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Dedicated to the wonderful human beings who have helped to shape my life the family of my heritage and the family of my procreation; my teachers and my mentors; the colleagues who have supported me during my long career; the Vanguard shareholders who have inspired me (and paid my salary!); and my friends from all walks of life.