A new national survey on Jack Bogle’s legacy—designed to commemorate his passing on January 16, 2019—reveals how much the trailblazing index fund entrepreneur and Vanguard founder truly influenced investors.
In fact, the more investors are familiar with Bogle’s philosophies, the more likely they are to prefer low-cost, long-term indexed investing, diversification and firms that deliver such strategies, according to the survey of 500 Vanguard investors and 500 non-Vanguard investors with $100,000 or more in investable assets.
Said Chip Roame, the managing partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors, “I was particularly struck by the increased focus of 48% of general investors who recognize the value of minimizing costs as the number one driver of long-term performance. Among investors who knew Jack, it’s 68%. This is legacy impact.”
Bogle’s message also influences the firms that investors believe have better reputations. Among the investing public, Vanguard’s reputation is rated higher than those of Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch, the survey found.
Vanguard investors rated Vanguard (73%) far above Berkshire Hathaway (43%), Charles Schwab (22%) and Merrill Lynch (16%).
Non-Vanguard investors also rated Vanguard highly (41%) compared with Charles Schwab (32%) and Merrill Lynch (25%). Berkshire Hathaway rated 47%.
When it comes to “excellent reputation,” Bogle ranked at the very top with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, among the general investing public familiar with his name.
Some 51.7% of investors and 60.3% of Vanguard investors said Bogle had an excellent reputation, beating out Buffett, Gates, John McCain, Charles Schwab, Michael Bloomberg and Mark Zuckerberg, the survey found.
How is Bogle remembered? Investors use two phrases, saying he made them understand that “investing in the entire market with low cost index funds is better than stock picking” and that he “made investing understandable.”
“Bogle’s investing principles and index funds are fixed in the American mind; his reputation stands alongside giants in American business,” said Knut A. Rostad, president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, which co-sponsored the survey as part of the newly formed pro-investor group Friends of Bogle (FOB), comprising investment executives and academics.