Bogleheads® Conference 2023 - 2023 Bogleheads Hall of Fame induction

00:00:00.000 | [ Applause ]

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00:00:17.280 | >> John C. Bogle was one of the most influential

00:00:20.280 | and outspoken figures in the investment management industry

00:00:23.640 | over the past half century.

00:00:26.000 | [ Music ]

00:00:30.200 | Born in Montclair, New Jersey in 1929, Mr. Bogle graduated

00:00:35.360 | from Princeton University in 1951,

00:00:39.280 | before joining Wellington Management Company.

00:00:42.480 | He rose through the ranks,

00:00:47.760 | eventually becoming Wellington's chief executive.

00:00:51.960 | But in 1974, he was, in his words,

00:00:56.280 | "fired with enthusiasm from Wellington, after a merger

00:00:59.800 | with another firm went sour."

00:01:02.200 | Mr. Bogle then came up with a novel idea.

00:01:07.960 | He proposed a new kind of mutual fund company,

00:01:11.680 | one owned by the funds it would serve,

00:01:14.240 | so it could be entirely client-focused.

00:01:17.560 | >> I decided that there ought to be a better way

00:01:20.280 | to run a fund business, and persuaded the directors

00:01:23.480 | of the Wellington Fund, and the Windsor Fund,

00:01:25.400 | and the other funds to start a new structure

00:01:28.120 | in which the funds were in the driver's seat,

00:01:30.760 | and not the management company.

00:01:34.840 | >> Wellington's funds agreed to the arrangement,

00:01:37.760 | and the result was the formation of the Vanguard Group,

00:01:41.680 | a company that dramatically altered the

00:01:43.520 | investment landscape.

00:01:47.320 | With Mr. Bogle at the helm, Vanguard opened for business

00:01:51.040 | in 1975, with only $1.8 billion in assets under management.

00:01:58.680 | A year later, Vanguard launched the first index mutual fund.

00:02:04.960 | Ridiculed at first for trying only to track the market,

00:02:07.920 | instead of beating it, Vanguard 500 Index Fund proved

00:02:12.320 | to be a landmark offering.

00:02:15.440 | It took several decades, but the fund demonstrated the merits

00:02:19.120 | of indexing, and unleashed a tidal wave

00:02:22.640 | of money into low-cost index funds.

00:02:26.000 | Vanguard's zeal for lowering the cost of investing,

00:02:33.680 | a cause that Mr. Bogle promoted relentlessly for the rest

00:02:36.720 | of his life, has been reflected in all its funds,

00:02:40.120 | both indexed and actively managed.

00:02:43.760 | From the start, Vanguard funds had costs

00:02:46.640 | that were among the lowest in the business,

00:02:49.040 | a feature that steadily attracted new investors,

00:02:52.200 | and helped make Vanguard one

00:02:53.760 | of the largest asset managers in the world.

00:02:57.600 | Such cost consciousness had a profound impact,

00:03:01.000 | as competitors scrambled to lower their costs,

00:03:04.040 | and offer their own index funds.

00:03:06.240 | >> I mean, I hope I'm going to be around here for another 30 years,

00:03:09.480 | because they're going to write books about Vanguard 30 years

00:03:13.240 | from now saying, "Here's the company that changed the industry

00:03:15.840 | and made it a better place to invest."

00:03:17.720 | Of that, I have no doubt.

00:03:21.440 | >> John Bogle was also a fierce and lifelong advocate

00:03:24.720 | for the average investor.

00:03:26.800 | He promoted the highest standards of ethics,

00:03:29.800 | especially as scandals

00:03:31.200 | and market crises periodically rocked Wall Street.

00:03:35.760 | His unrelenting criticism of profiteering, self-dealing,

00:03:40.080 | and poor stewardship eventually earned him the admiration

00:03:43.600 | and praise of investors around the world.

00:03:47.320 | He received a long list of honors,

00:03:49.600 | including Fortune magazines naming him one

00:03:52.240 | of the investment industry's four giants of the 20th century.

00:03:58.360 | >> Idealism is everything.

00:04:00.960 | Sure, it's difficult to measure up to high ideals,

00:04:04.040 | but just to have them there as your goal,

00:04:06.360 | knowing that you can never measure up to them, is worthwhile.

00:04:12.240 | >> After leading Vanguard for more than two decades,

00:04:15.160 | Mr. Bogle retired from the Vanguard Board of Directors in 1999.

00:04:20.760 | He then formed the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center.

00:04:25.560 | A prolific writer and an eloquent speaker,

00:04:28.240 | Mr. Bogle wrote numerous books and scores of articles and speeches.

00:04:33.640 | Despite having survived multiple heart attacks

00:04:36.360 | and a heart transplant, he kept up a busy schedule

00:04:39.600 | of public appearances.

00:04:42.120 | Mr. Bogle also continued his lifelong commitment

00:04:45.280 | to philanthropy and served in a variety of civic roles,

00:04:49.320 | including as the first chairman

00:04:51.200 | of the National Constitution Center.

00:04:53.200 | >> I don't know what the future holds.

00:04:56.960 | I'm going to guess now.

00:04:58.400 | I won't be around then, but the people will really be saying,

00:05:03.600 | "He made a difference in this industry.

00:05:06.600 | "This one man, one person, this one person made a difference.

00:05:10.760 | "Even one person can make a difference."

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00:06:05.000 | [music ends]

00:06:08.000 | [applause]

00:06:17.000 | >> Welcome, folks, to the second Bogle Heads Banquet,

00:06:25.000 | and I am pleased to have on the screen with us

00:06:28.000 | Mr. Mel Lindauer.

00:06:31.000 | Mr. Mel Lindauer was dubbed by Jack Bogle

00:06:35.000 | to be the Prince of the Bogle Heads.

00:06:39.000 | He was one of the two founders of the Bogle Heads Forum.

00:06:45.000 | He and Taylor Larimore were the two founding members

00:06:51.000 | of this community which has grown to what you see today.

00:06:57.000 | Together they have well over 100,000 posts

00:07:02.000 | on bogleheads.org

00:07:05.000 | and continue in their efforts to moderate that panel.

00:07:11.000 | And other things that Mel has done--

00:07:14.000 | he is a Marine veteran, Semper Fi fell, Mel.

00:07:19.000 | He started investing in the late 1960s,

00:07:22.000 | and that was his first experience

00:07:25.000 | with bull and bear markets.

00:07:28.000 | He is the founder of these meetings,

00:07:31.000 | the Bogle Head Conferences,

00:07:33.000 | which he is going to talk about a little bit tonight.

00:07:36.000 | He's been quoted in every financial newspaper there is.

00:07:40.000 | He is the author of "The Bogle Heads Guide to Investing."

00:07:45.000 | He is the former CEO

00:07:47.000 | of a successful graphics company in Philadelphia.

00:07:51.000 | He earned the title of Certified Fund Specialist

00:07:54.000 | from the Institute of Business and Finance,

00:07:57.000 | as well as a Wealth Management Specialist

00:08:00.000 | from Kaplan University.

00:08:02.000 | He holds a commercial pilot's license,

00:08:06.000 | and something that I know Mel is very proud of--

00:08:09.000 | he was commissioned a Kentucky colonel

00:08:12.000 | by the governors of his former state of Kentucky.

00:08:15.000 | So please welcome Mel Lindauer.

00:08:20.000 | [cheers and applause]

00:08:23.000 | You have the floor, Mel.

00:08:33.000 | - Hello, everyone.

00:08:35.000 | Sorry that I can't be with you in person,

00:08:37.000 | but I'm glad that I can still be with you virtually.

00:08:41.000 | I was asked to talk a little about the genesis

00:08:44.000 | of these Bogle Head Conferences

00:08:46.000 | and my involvement with the Bogle Heads.

00:08:49.000 | So here's a bit of that history from my perspective.

00:08:53.000 | After a couple years of spending the winters in Florida

00:08:56.000 | as a snowbird and taking time off work to play golf,

00:09:00.000 | I knew that I was ready to retire early

00:09:03.000 | and turn the business over to my two sons.

00:09:06.000 | So in 1997, I pulled the plug

00:09:09.000 | and headed off into retired life.

00:09:13.000 | Having kept busy all my life,

00:09:15.000 | I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful

00:09:17.000 | besides playing golf and walking on the beach,

00:09:20.000 | so I looked for a volunteer situation

00:09:23.000 | where I might be able to make a difference.

00:09:26.000 | Since I was a longtime student of investing,

00:09:29.000 | I searched for an online site

00:09:31.000 | where I might be able to help others

00:09:33.000 | avoid all the mistakes I had made

00:09:35.000 | when I first started investing.

00:09:38.000 | I had a subscription to the old Morningstar binders

00:09:41.000 | where all the data was on paper.

00:09:44.000 | Then when Morningstar transitioned from paper

00:09:47.000 | to online data subscriptions,

00:09:49.000 | I found that they had established

00:09:51.000 | several online investing forums.

00:09:54.000 | There was a generic mutual fund forum,

00:09:57.000 | and that's when Taylor and other posters

00:09:59.000 | had asked Morningstar for their own Bogle Heads forum.

00:10:04.000 | At that time, the term "Bogle Heads"

00:10:06.000 | was a derogatory term used to make fun

00:10:10.000 | of the group that advocated low-cost index investing

00:10:13.000 | inspired by Jack Bogle.

00:10:16.000 | Morningstar was concerned that having a forum

00:10:19.000 | with that derogatory Bogle Heads name

00:10:21.000 | wouldn't be appropriate,

00:10:23.000 | so they called us the Vanguard Diehards.

00:10:27.000 | Taylor had already established himself

00:10:29.000 | as a leader of the Bogle Heads on the mutual funds forum,

00:10:32.000 | but he graciously invited me to join him

00:10:35.000 | in the Bogle Heads leadership role,

00:10:37.000 | and we've been partners in the adventure

00:10:40.000 | for the past 25 years.

00:10:43.000 | On Thanksgiving Day of 1999,

00:10:46.000 | I made a post on the old Vanguard Diehards forum

00:10:50.000 | wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving

00:10:52.000 | and listing all the things I was thankful for.

00:10:56.000 | Others chimed in and did the same.

00:10:59.000 | When Taylor made his post,

00:11:01.000 | one of the things he said he was most thankful for

00:11:04.000 | was Jack Bogle and Vanguard,

00:11:07.000 | since his investments in low-cost Vanguard funds

00:11:10.000 | had made it possible for him to live the good life

00:11:13.000 | in his beautiful 35th-floor condo

00:11:16.000 | overlooking Biscayne Bay in Miami.

00:11:19.000 | He called his home "the house that Jack built."

00:11:23.000 | Jack Bogle used to follow our Morningstar forum

00:11:26.000 | and saw Taylor's post.

00:11:28.000 | He sent Taylor a handwritten note

00:11:31.000 | asking if there was any interest in getting together with him

00:11:34.000 | at a non-resort place.

00:11:37.000 | Well, for us, that was like getting an invitation

00:11:39.000 | to the White House or an audience with the Pope,

00:11:42.000 | so Taylor and I started trying to find a way

00:11:44.000 | that we could make it happen.

00:11:47.000 | It just so happened that Jack was scheduled

00:11:49.000 | to be a keynote speaker

00:11:50.000 | at the 2000 Miami Herald Making Money Seminar,

00:11:54.000 | so Taylor and I figured that might be a good time

00:11:57.000 | to take Jack up on his offer.

00:12:00.000 | I contacted the Miami Herald folks

00:12:02.000 | and asked if they could arrange for us

00:12:04.000 | to have lunch with Jack during their event,

00:12:07.000 | but they shooed us away,

00:12:09.000 | saying that Jack was too busy to spend any time with us.

00:12:13.000 | So I called Jack's office

00:12:14.000 | and told him what the Miami Herald folks had said,

00:12:17.000 | and he told me that he'd meet with us wherever we wanted.

00:12:21.000 | That's when Taylor and I decided we'd split the cost

00:12:24.000 | for a get-together with Jack at Taylor's condo.

00:12:28.000 | We hired a chef and a maid and made a post on the forum,

00:12:32.000 | inviting other Bogo Hits to join us.

00:12:35.000 | About 20 or so forum members were able to join us

00:12:38.000 | on short notice for that magical evening with Jack.

00:12:43.000 | When the Miami Herald folks got wind

00:12:45.000 | of our scheduled event with Jack,

00:12:47.000 | they asked me if they could send a reporter

00:12:49.000 | and a photographer to cover our evening with Jack.

00:12:53.000 | Rather than treat them like they had treated us,

00:12:56.000 | I said sure, and we ended up with a nice story

00:12:59.000 | with photos in that Sunday's Miami Herald.

00:13:03.000 | After dinner that evening,

00:13:05.000 | Jack sat with us in the living room

00:13:07.000 | and answered everyone's questions.

00:13:09.000 | He then asked if he could use Taylor's computer

00:13:12.000 | to make a post on the forum.

00:13:14.000 | In that post, Jack told the forum members

00:13:17.000 | about his lovely evening with Taylor,

00:13:19.000 | the king of the Bogo Hits,

00:13:21.000 | and me, the prince of the Bogo Hits.

00:13:24.000 | This was my official anointment

00:13:26.000 | as the prince of the Bogo Hits.

00:13:29.000 | When I was driving Jack back to his hotel

00:13:32.000 | later that evening, he was telling me

00:13:34.000 | about his mentor, Walter Morgan.

00:13:37.000 | He said that in the beginning,

00:13:39.000 | he had a hard time calling him Walter,

00:13:41.000 | and that's when I told him that I understood completely

00:13:44.000 | because I had a hard time calling him Jack,

00:13:46.000 | as he requested.

00:13:49.000 | The following morning, Jack was the keynote speaker

00:13:51.000 | at the Miami Herald seminar,

00:13:53.000 | followed immediately by the screaming Jim Cramer,

00:13:56.000 | who told the audience to forget what Jack had just said

00:14:00.000 | because he was going to give them 10 hot,

00:14:02.000 | can't-miss tech stocks,

00:14:04.000 | most of which went to zero in the ensuing tech wreck.

00:14:08.000 | [laughter]

00:14:10.000 | After the Miami hit together with Jack,

00:14:13.000 | foreign members started asking

00:14:15.000 | when and where the next event with Jack would be held.

00:14:18.000 | That surprised us,

00:14:20.000 | since we figured it would be a one-time event.

00:14:23.000 | Then one of the foreign members,

00:14:25.000 | who owned a farm near Vanguard headquarters,

00:14:27.000 | offered to host the next event,

00:14:30.000 | and that turned out to be our second conference with Jack.

00:14:34.000 | Jason Swagg, who's currently with The Wall Street Journal,

00:14:37.000 | was with Money Magazine at that time.

00:14:40.000 | He spoke at that second conference

00:14:42.000 | and wrote a beautiful, multi-page story

00:14:44.000 | for Money Magazine titled "Here Come the Bogleheads."

00:14:48.000 | That story attracted lots of new foreign members,

00:14:51.000 | and our group continued to grow.

00:14:54.000 | After that second conference,

00:14:56.000 | I started working with the management and sponsors of events

00:14:59.000 | where Jack was scheduled to speak,

00:15:01.000 | and we scheduled several

00:15:03.000 | of our future Boglehead conferences that way.

00:15:06.000 | The Morningstar Conference in Chicago hosted our third event,

00:15:10.000 | and the CFA instituted our next event in Denver.

00:15:15.000 | In 2005, we were busy writing the first "Bogleheads Guide"

00:15:19.000 | and hadn't planned to hold a conference.

00:15:22.000 | Jack asked when and where the next conference would be.

00:15:25.000 | I told him that we were busy writing the book

00:15:27.000 | and hadn't planned to hold a conference,

00:15:29.000 | since we couldn't work things out

00:15:31.000 | with any event where he was scheduled to speak.

00:15:34.000 | That's when he told me that he'd go

00:15:36.000 | wherever we wanted him to go.

00:15:39.000 | At that point, I decided that we could utilize

00:15:42.000 | the local chapters around the country

00:15:44.000 | to help us with the planning of events in their cities,

00:15:47.000 | and that's when we went out on our own.

00:15:51.000 | To help me with all the details

00:15:53.000 | that go into planning a conference like this,

00:15:55.000 | I assembled a permanent conference team

00:15:58.000 | consisting of Ed and Patty Rager from the D.C. chapter,

00:16:02.000 | Paul and Linda Gloverson,

00:16:04.000 | and Mel and Kathy Turner from the San Diego chapter,

00:16:08.000 | and Gail Cox from the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter.

00:16:12.000 | Together with what I called my dream team,

00:16:15.000 | we scheduled and moved the conferences around the country

00:16:18.000 | without needing them to coordinate

00:16:20.000 | with any outside organization.

00:16:23.000 | Several of my conference dream team members

00:16:25.000 | are in attendance tonight.

00:16:27.000 | I'd like to ask Ed and Patty Rager,

00:16:30.000 | Mel and Kathy Turner, and Gail Cox

00:16:33.000 | to stand up and be recognized.

00:16:35.000 | -All right.

00:16:37.000 | -They certainly made me look good,

00:16:39.000 | and I feel very lucky to have them as my dear friends.

00:16:43.000 | [ Applause ]

00:16:45.000 | At the 2010 Bogo Head Conference,

00:16:47.000 | in a private conversation I had with Jack,

00:16:50.000 | he told me that he was concerned that once he was gone,

00:16:53.000 | his message would die with him.

00:16:56.000 | I assured him that we would carry on,

00:16:58.000 | and that's when I suggested the Bogo Center.

00:17:01.000 | Jack liked the idea

00:17:03.000 | and agreed to serve as honorary chairman

00:17:06.000 | once I assured him that I'd serve as president

00:17:08.000 | and would take care of all the details.

00:17:11.000 | With the help of several pro bono Bogo Heads lawyers

00:17:15.000 | and the members of my dream team,

00:17:17.000 | we got the Bogo Center for Financial Literacy up and running.

00:17:21.000 | The center then took over sponsoring the annual conferences.

00:17:26.000 | I served as president for 10 years

00:17:28.000 | before passing the baton on to the next generation

00:17:31.000 | of younger leaders who are doing an outstanding job

00:17:34.000 | of expanding the scope of operations of the center.

00:17:39.000 | Realizing that the Bogo Heads have become a brand name,

00:17:42.000 | I made the decision to trademark the Bogo Heads name.

00:17:45.000 | The Bogo Center now owns

00:17:47.000 | and protects the trademarked Bogo Heads name.

00:17:51.000 | The Bogo Heads Forum continues to grow

00:17:54.000 | and helps to carry out the Bogo Center mission

00:17:56.000 | of financial literacy for all.

00:17:59.000 | There have been more than 700,000 posts

00:18:02.000 | on more than 350,000 topics

00:18:05.000 | made by more than 127,000 members.

00:18:09.000 | And we now have approximately 100 local chapters

00:18:12.000 | around the U.S. and in many foreign countries.

00:18:16.000 | Hopefully you've enjoyed this quick trip

00:18:18.000 | down Bogo Heads memory lane as much as I have

00:18:21.000 | and realized that you are part of a very special group.

00:18:25.000 | And we have our friend and mentor, Jack Bogo,

00:18:27.000 | to thank for all of this.

00:18:30.000 | Rest in peace, Jack.

00:18:31.000 | We're continuing to spread your message as promised.

00:18:35.000 | Enjoy the evening and the rest of your conference.

00:18:38.000 | I hope to see many of you at next year's conference.

00:18:41.000 | And in the meantime, I'll see you on the forum.

00:18:58.000 | Mel, that was wonderful.

00:18:59.000 | We have a special guest who would like to address you tonight.

00:19:04.000 | What happened to Mel?

00:19:07.000 | Are you still there, Mel?

00:19:08.000 | You see me okay?

00:19:10.000 | We have a special guest who wishes to address you tonight.

00:19:13.000 | I'm going to ask Andrew Bogle to please come up to the stage.

00:19:21.000 | [applause]

00:19:30.000 | Thank you.

00:19:31.000 | It is my honor and privilege to be here tonight.

00:19:34.000 | We are here to celebrate the remarkable achievements

00:19:37.000 | of a true luminary in the field of personal finance.

00:19:41.000 | Thank you, Mel, for all that you've done to educate, assist,

00:19:46.000 | teach, and console hundreds of thousands of people

00:19:51.000 | in their journey to save money and invest it wisely.

00:19:56.000 | Mel's generous spirit and sharing his knowledge

00:19:58.000 | has positively impacted countless individuals.

00:20:02.000 | Mel has not only helped people secure their financial futures,

00:20:06.000 | but also given them the confidence to navigate

00:20:08.000 | the complex financial markets.

00:20:13.000 | Mel's journey is a testament to the power of lifelong learning,

00:20:17.000 | persistence, and the impact that one person can have

00:20:21.000 | on the community, just as it's said in that video.

00:20:25.000 | Please join me to congratulate Mel on his induction

00:20:29.000 | to the Bogle Heads Hall of Fame.

00:20:31.000 | [applause]

00:20:59.000 | Okay, Mel, go ahead and speak, because we were all clapping,

00:21:02.000 | giving you a standing ovation,

00:21:03.000 | so we didn't hear anything you said.

00:21:05.000 | [laughter]

00:21:07.000 | I said I'm really honored, and I'm glad I gave my speech earlier,

00:21:12.000 | because basically I'm speechless now.

00:21:15.000 | It's a true honor, and I'm so pleased to honor

00:21:20.000 | my friend and ally, Taylor, in the Bogle Center Hall of Fame,

00:21:29.000 | and I hope that at some point we don't forget

00:21:31.000 | to honor our patron saint, Jack,

00:21:34.000 | and include him in the Bogle Hall of Fame,

00:21:37.000 | because he certainly deserved to be in there.

00:21:40.000 | [laughter]

00:21:42.000 | Absolutely.

00:21:45.000 | Thank you, Mel, and hopefully everything goes well.

00:21:47.000 | We'll see you next year.

00:21:51.000 | Take care.

00:21:53.000 | [applause]

00:21:56.000 | [applause]

00:21:59.000 | [applause]

00:22:02.000 | you

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Bogleheads® Conference 2023 - 2023 Bogleheads Hall of Fame induction - honoring Mel Lindauer

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