Bogleheads® 2022 Conference – Mel Lindauer: Reflections on the Bogleheads
00:00:00.000 | [APPLAUSE]
00:00:06.920 | All right.
00:00:07.420 | So ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce
00:00:10.400 | Mr. Mel Lindauer.
00:00:12.080 | He was dubbed the Prince of the Bogleheads by Jack Bogle.
00:00:17.000 | He is one of the Boglehead Forum's founders,
00:00:20.560 | along with Taylor Larimore.
00:00:22.720 | And he has contributed thousands of posts.
00:00:25.200 | He's been helping investors learn the Boglehead way.
00:00:28.920 | He's the author of "The Boglehead's Guide
00:00:30.600 | to Investing," and one of the authors.
00:00:32.880 | In 2010, Mel helped create the John C. Bogle Center
00:00:38.520 | for Financial Literacy, and has been the president,
00:00:43.520 | or was the president, from 2012 to 2019.
00:00:48.120 | He's also an elected official, vice mayor,
00:00:51.640 | I believe, in Daytona Beach Shores,
00:00:54.840 | and was re-elected in 2018 and 2020.
00:00:59.840 | So with no further ado, let me introduce Mr. Mel Lindauer.
00:01:08.200 | [APPLAUSE]
00:01:11.160 | Hello, everyone.
00:01:14.640 | Thank you.
00:01:16.640 | I'm sorry that because of my wife's health issues,
00:01:20.000 | I can't be with you in person this year.
00:01:22.960 | However, it's still great to be with you via video.
00:01:26.760 | This will be the first of our 20 conferences
00:01:29.440 | that I haven't attended in person.
00:01:32.520 | I understand that my good friend and partner-in-crime,
00:01:35.200 | Taylor Larimore, the king of the Bogleheads,
00:01:38.080 | will also be appearing on video immediately following me.
00:01:42.840 | I'm sure that's going to be an exciting session.
00:01:46.720 | Taylor and I go back a long way to the start of the Bogleheads
00:01:50.280 | on Morningstar nearly 25 years ago.
00:01:54.160 | Initially, there were no Bogleheads forums
00:01:56.480 | at Morningstar.
00:01:58.280 | Many Bogleheads were posting on the Morningstar mutual fund
00:02:01.760 | forum.
00:02:03.160 | Back then, Bogleheads was a derogatory term
00:02:06.280 | that others used to make fun of our group.
00:02:08.720 | [AUDIO OUT]
00:02:09.400 | --my thunder.
00:02:10.120 | [LAUGHTER]
00:02:11.680 | Because others used Bogleheads as a derogatory term,
00:02:15.520 | when Morningstar eventually agreed
00:02:17.480 | to give us our own forum, they were
00:02:20.320 | hesitant to call it the Bogleheads forum.
00:02:23.320 | So they named it the Van Andorre Dialogues forum,
00:02:25.960 | and added a less noticeable sub-title,
00:02:29.080 | "Bogleheads Day and Night to Talk
00:02:30.840 | About Your Favorite Fan Company," or the fun company.
00:02:35.320 | Even though we didn't personally know each other,
00:02:37.400 | our small group of Bogleheads still felt like family.
00:02:41.480 | In their family spirit, I made a post
00:02:43.720 | on the forum at Thanksgiving time in 1999,
00:02:48.040 | expressing my thanks for all the good things I had in my life.
00:02:52.880 | Others jumped in, saying that was
00:02:54.880 | what they were thankful for.
00:02:57.080 | In addition to posting how thankful he
00:02:59.280 | was for his wife and family, Taylor
00:03:01.840 | stated that he was also thankful for his beautiful condo
00:03:05.600 | overlooking Biscayne Bay that he calls the house--
00:03:09.920 | OK, Taylor.
00:03:10.960 | OK, Mel, Mel, you're just taking all my thunder
00:03:13.400 | here.
00:03:13.900 | [LAUGHTER]
00:03:14.900 | [INAUDIBLE]
00:03:16.380 | [LAUGHTER]
00:03:18.360 | [APPLAUSE]
00:03:20.840 | Jack Bogle, Jack Bogle was responsible for his investment
00:03:24.840 | success and his ability to live the good life
00:03:27.840 | in his beautiful condo.
00:03:30.320 | Jack Bogle saw that post and sent a handwritten note
00:03:33.320 | to Taylor, asking Methods if there was any way,
00:03:37.320 | any interest in us Bogleheads getting together with him,
00:03:40.320 | at a non-resort place, typical Jack.
00:03:43.800 | For us, that was like getting an invitation to the White House
00:03:47.300 | for an audience with the Pope.
00:03:48.800 | [LAUGHTER]
00:03:49.300 | So Taylor and I started trying to figure out
00:03:51.280 | how we could take Jack up on his generous offer.
00:03:55.280 | At that time, I was for Snowbird,
00:03:57.280 | sending my winners to Florida.
00:04:00.280 | Knowing that, Taylor contacted me,
00:04:02.780 | letting me know that Jack was going
00:04:04.280 | to be the keynote speaker, along with none other than Jim
00:04:07.760 | Craver, at the Miami Herald Maker Money Seminar in January,
00:04:12.720 | and wondering if we should try to see if we can get together
00:04:16.200 | with Jim there.
00:04:18.200 | I agreed, and the planning started.
00:04:21.200 | I contacted the Miami Herald Group,
00:04:23.700 | asking if they could provide us with a time
00:04:25.700 | to play during the seminar, where we could have
00:04:28.700 | a fun lunch with Jack.
00:04:31.200 | They shooed us away by group, because they
00:04:33.200 | didn't have time to meet with us.
00:04:36.680 | Jack called Jack's office and told him what they said.
00:04:39.680 | Jack's response was, "I'll go anywhere you'd like."
00:04:44.160 | So we made plans to get together with Jack
00:04:46.160 | at a private affair in Taylor's lovely Miami condo.
00:04:50.640 | We barged in staff to help with the dinner,
00:04:52.640 | and Taylor and I hosted Jack in about a 20-something overhead,
00:04:57.640 | at an evening with Jack Boone that none of us
00:05:00.140 | will ever forget.
00:05:02.140 | I should point out that once the Miami Herald folks found out
00:05:05.640 | that Jack would be joining us bogaheads off-site,
00:05:09.120 | they came hat in hand and asked if they could send
00:05:11.620 | a photographer and a reporter to cover our evening with Jack.
00:05:17.120 | Instead of being jerks by refusing to commentate them
00:05:20.120 | as they had done to us, we allowed them to join us,
00:05:24.620 | and ended up with a great story with pictures of our evening
00:05:28.120 | with Jack on the front page of the Sunday business section
00:05:31.640 | of the Miami Herald.
00:05:34.140 | After that lovely dinner, we all sat around in the living room
00:05:37.640 | and chatted with Jack as he answered everyone's questions
00:05:41.140 | and chatted about whatever anyone inquired about.
00:05:45.140 | It was truly a magical evening.
00:05:48.140 | Jack then said that he wanted to make a post
00:05:50.140 | on the Morning Star Forum telling all the bogaheads
00:05:53.640 | who couldn't attend what a great night he had that evening
00:05:56.640 | with his bogaheads in Florida.
00:05:59.140 | When making that Morning Star Forum post,
00:06:01.640 | Jack named Taylor the king of the bogaheads
00:06:04.140 | and me the prince of the bogaheads.
00:06:07.140 | I told Taylor countless times that this is one prince
00:06:11.140 | who has no desire to be king, so he's going to have to
00:06:14.640 | stick around as long as I do.
00:06:17.140 | So far at age 98, Taylor's doing a great job
00:06:20.140 | of living up to his part of our bargain.
00:06:24.140 | Taylor and I had figured that the Miami get-together
00:06:26.640 | with Jack was a one-time event, but then other bogaheads
00:06:30.140 | who weren't able to attend the Miami get-together with Jack
00:06:33.640 | started asking when and where the next event would be held.
00:06:38.140 | A bogahead named Dave owned a farm near Vanguard
00:06:41.140 | and offered to host our second event.
00:06:44.140 | Sadly, Dave died before the scheduled event,
00:06:48.140 | but his family insisted on holding the event in Dave's honor.
00:06:53.140 | Jack Bogle served as our guide as we toured nearby Vanguard,
00:06:56.640 | and Jason Swagg, who was with Money magazine at that time,
00:07:00.640 | spoke at the event and ended up writing a very nice story
00:07:03.640 | with lots of photos for Money magazine titled
00:07:07.140 | "Here Come the Bogleheads."
00:07:09.640 | Future events were planned around events where Jack was speaking.
00:07:14.140 | Morningstar hosted us for our third event
00:07:16.640 | at their big event in Chicago where Jack was speaking,
00:07:20.140 | and other groups, such as the CFA Institute,
00:07:23.140 | did the same in future years.
00:07:26.140 | Eventually, though, we ran out of invitations to hold our events
00:07:29.140 | in coordination with an event where Jack was speaking.
00:07:33.640 | In 2005, when Teller and I were busy writing our first book,
00:07:38.640 | Jack asked me when the next event was going to be held.
00:07:42.640 | I told him that we couldn't coordinate it with anywhere where he was speaking,
00:07:46.640 | and that's when Jack told me not to worry about where he was speaking,
00:07:50.140 | that he'd go wherever we wanted him.
00:07:52.640 | That's when we went out on our own, using local Boglehead chapters
00:07:57.640 | to help with the coordination of the subsequent conferences
00:08:02.140 | around the country.
00:08:04.140 | At this time, I need to give a big shout-out to my former
00:08:07.140 | Vogel Center board and conference team members
00:08:10.140 | who made the previous events such a great success.
00:08:14.140 | They included Pat and Eddie Rager, and Paul and Linda Gloverson.
00:08:19.140 | And several other members of my team are volunteering
00:08:22.140 | right here at the conference again today.
00:08:24.640 | Mel and Kathy Turner and Gail Cox.
00:08:27.640 | I called them my dream team, and that title was well-deserved.
00:08:32.640 | They made me look good, for which I'm eternally grateful.
00:08:36.640 | And now, with the passing of the torch to the new Boglehead Center board members,
00:08:42.140 | the Boglehead conferences are going to live on bigger and better than ever.
00:08:47.140 | Enjoy your conference experience.
00:08:49.140 | Hopefully, I'll see you next year.
00:08:52.140 | Thank you, Mel.
00:08:54.140 | [applause]
00:08:56.140 | Wait, wait, wait.
00:08:59.140 | One more time for Mel.
00:09:01.140 | All right.
00:09:03.140 | [applause]
00:09:06.140 | Thank you, everybody.
00:09:08.140 | Thank you so much, Mel, for taking the time today.
00:09:12.140 | I know how busy you are.
00:09:14.140 | And we hope that everything goes well for you and for Marlene.
00:09:18.140 | So take care, and we'll see you at the conference next year.
00:09:23.140 | Sounds good, Rick.
00:09:24.140 | You take care.
00:09:25.140 | Semper Fi, everybody.
00:09:26.140 | Semper Fi.
00:09:27.140 | Semper Fi.
00:09:28.140 | [BLANK_AUDIO]