>> John C. Bogle was one of the most influential and outspoken figures in the investment management industry over the past half century. Born in Montclair, New Jersey in 1929, Mr. Bogle graduated from Princeton University in 1951, before joining Wellington Management Company. He rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Wellington's chief executive.

But in 1974, he was, in his words, "fired with enthusiasm from Wellington, after a merger with another firm went sour." Mr. Bogle then came up with a novel idea. He proposed a new kind of mutual fund company, one owned by the funds it would serve, so it could be entirely client-focused.

>> I decided that there ought to be a better way to run a fund business, and persuaded the directors of the Wellington Fund, and the Windsor Fund, and the other funds to start a new structure in which the funds were in the driver's seat, and not the management company.

>> Wellington's funds agreed to the arrangement, and the result was the formation of the Vanguard Group, a company that dramatically altered the investment landscape. With Mr. Bogle at the helm, Vanguard opened for business in 1975, with only $1.8 billion in assets under management. A year later, Vanguard launched the first index mutual fund.

Ridiculed at first for trying only to track the market, instead of beating it, Vanguard 500 Index Fund proved to be a landmark offering. It took several decades, but the fund demonstrated the merits of indexing, and unleashed a tidal wave of money into low-cost index funds. Vanguard's zeal for lowering the cost of investing, a cause that Mr.

Bogle promoted relentlessly for the rest of his life, has been reflected in all its funds, both indexed and actively managed. From the start, Vanguard funds had costs that were among the lowest in the business, a feature that steadily attracted new investors, and helped make Vanguard one of the largest asset managers in the world.

Such cost consciousness had a profound impact, as competitors scrambled to lower their costs, and offer their own index funds. >> I mean, I hope I'm going to be around here for another 30 years, because they're going to write books about Vanguard 30 years from now saying, "Here's the company that changed the industry and made it a better place to invest." Of that, I have no doubt.

>> John Bogle was also a fierce and lifelong advocate for the average investor. He promoted the highest standards of ethics, especially as scandals and market crises periodically rocked Wall Street. His unrelenting criticism of profiteering, self-dealing, and poor stewardship eventually earned him the admiration and praise of investors around the world.

He received a long list of honors, including Fortune magazines naming him one of the investment industry's four giants of the 20th century. >> Idealism is everything. Sure, it's difficult to measure up to high ideals, but just to have them there as your goal, knowing that you can never measure up to them, is worthwhile.

>> After leading Vanguard for more than two decades, Mr. Bogle retired from the Vanguard Board of Directors in 1999. He then formed the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. A prolific writer and an eloquent speaker, Mr. Bogle wrote numerous books and scores of articles and speeches. Despite having survived multiple heart attacks and a heart transplant, he kept up a busy schedule of public appearances.

Mr. Bogle also continued his lifelong commitment to philanthropy and served in a variety of civic roles, including as the first chairman of the National Constitution Center. >> I don't know what the future holds. I'm going to guess now. I won't be around then, but the people will really be saying, "He made a difference in this industry.

"This one man, one person, this one person made a difference. "Even one person can make a difference." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Welcome, folks, to the second Bogle Heads Banquet, and I am pleased to have on the screen with us Mr.

Mel Lindauer. Mr. Mel Lindauer was dubbed by Jack Bogle to be the Prince of the Bogle Heads. He was one of the two founders of the Bogle Heads Forum. He and Taylor Larimore were the two founding members of this community which has grown to what you see today. Together they have well over 100,000 posts on bogleheads.org and continue in their efforts to moderate that panel.

And other things that Mel has done-- he is a Marine veteran, Semper Fi fell, Mel. He started investing in the late 1960s, and that was his first experience with bull and bear markets. He is the founder of these meetings, the Bogle Head Conferences, which he is going to talk about a little bit tonight.

He's been quoted in every financial newspaper there is. He is the author of "The Bogle Heads Guide to Investing." He is the former CEO of a successful graphics company in Philadelphia. He earned the title of Certified Fund Specialist from the Institute of Business and Finance, as well as a Wealth Management Specialist from Kaplan University.

He holds a commercial pilot's license, and something that I know Mel is very proud of-- he was commissioned a Kentucky colonel by the governors of his former state of Kentucky. So please welcome Mel Lindauer. You have the floor, Mel. - Hello, everyone. Sorry that I can't be with you in person, but I'm glad that I can still be with you virtually.

I was asked to talk a little about the genesis of these Bogle Head Conferences and my involvement with the Bogle Heads. So here's a bit of that history from my perspective. After a couple years of spending the winters in Florida as a snowbird and taking time off work to play golf, I knew that I was ready to retire early and turn the business over to my two sons.

So in 1997, I pulled the plug and headed off into retired life. Having kept busy all my life, I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful besides playing golf and walking on the beach, so I looked for a volunteer situation where I might be able to make a difference.

Since I was a longtime student of investing, I searched for an online site where I might be able to help others avoid all the mistakes I had made when I first started investing. I had a subscription to the old Morningstar binders where all the data was on paper. Then when Morningstar transitioned from paper to online data subscriptions, I found that they had established several online investing forums.

There was a generic mutual fund forum, and that's when Taylor and other posters had asked Morningstar for their own Bogle Heads forum. At that time, the term "Bogle Heads" was a derogatory term used to make fun of the group that advocated low-cost index investing inspired by Jack Bogle. Morningstar was concerned that having a forum with that derogatory Bogle Heads name wouldn't be appropriate, so they called us the Vanguard Diehards.

Taylor had already established himself as a leader of the Bogle Heads on the mutual funds forum, but he graciously invited me to join him in the Bogle Heads leadership role, and we've been partners in the adventure for the past 25 years. On Thanksgiving Day of 1999, I made a post on the old Vanguard Diehards forum wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving and listing all the things I was thankful for.

Others chimed in and did the same. When Taylor made his post, one of the things he said he was most thankful for was Jack Bogle and Vanguard, since his investments in low-cost Vanguard funds had made it possible for him to live the good life in his beautiful 35th-floor condo overlooking Biscayne Bay in Miami.

He called his home "the house that Jack built." Jack Bogle used to follow our Morningstar forum and saw Taylor's post. He sent Taylor a handwritten note asking if there was any interest in getting together with him at a non-resort place. Well, for us, that was like getting an invitation to the White House or an audience with the Pope, so Taylor and I started trying to find a way that we could make it happen.

It just so happened that Jack was scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the 2000 Miami Herald Making Money Seminar, so Taylor and I figured that might be a good time to take Jack up on his offer. I contacted the Miami Herald folks and asked if they could arrange for us to have lunch with Jack during their event, but they shooed us away, saying that Jack was too busy to spend any time with us.

So I called Jack's office and told him what the Miami Herald folks had said, and he told me that he'd meet with us wherever we wanted. That's when Taylor and I decided we'd split the cost for a get-together with Jack at Taylor's condo. We hired a chef and a maid and made a post on the forum, inviting other Bogo Hits to join us.

About 20 or so forum members were able to join us on short notice for that magical evening with Jack. When the Miami Herald folks got wind of our scheduled event with Jack, they asked me if they could send a reporter and a photographer to cover our evening with Jack.

Rather than treat them like they had treated us, I said sure, and we ended up with a nice story with photos in that Sunday's Miami Herald. After dinner that evening, Jack sat with us in the living room and answered everyone's questions. He then asked if he could use Taylor's computer to make a post on the forum.

In that post, Jack told the forum members about his lovely evening with Taylor, the king of the Bogo Hits, and me, the prince of the Bogo Hits. This was my official anointment as the prince of the Bogo Hits. When I was driving Jack back to his hotel later that evening, he was telling me about his mentor, Walter Morgan.

He said that in the beginning, he had a hard time calling him Walter, and that's when I told him that I understood completely because I had a hard time calling him Jack, as he requested. The following morning, Jack was the keynote speaker at the Miami Herald seminar, followed immediately by the screaming Jim Cramer, who told the audience to forget what Jack had just said because he was going to give them 10 hot, can't-miss tech stocks, most of which went to zero in the ensuing tech wreck.

After the Miami hit together with Jack, foreign members started asking when and where the next event with Jack would be held. That surprised us, since we figured it would be a one-time event. Then one of the foreign members, who owned a farm near Vanguard headquarters, offered to host the next event, and that turned out to be our second conference with Jack.

Jason Swagg, who's currently with The Wall Street Journal, was with Money Magazine at that time. He spoke at that second conference and wrote a beautiful, multi-page story for Money Magazine titled "Here Come the Bogleheads." That story attracted lots of new foreign members, and our group continued to grow. After that second conference, I started working with the management and sponsors of events where Jack was scheduled to speak, and we scheduled several of our future Boglehead conferences that way.

The Morningstar Conference in Chicago hosted our third event, and the CFA instituted our next event in Denver. In 2005, we were busy writing the first "Bogleheads Guide" and hadn't planned to hold a conference. Jack asked when and where the next conference would be. I told him that we were busy writing the book and hadn't planned to hold a conference, since we couldn't work things out with any event where he was scheduled to speak.

That's when he told me that he'd go wherever we wanted him to go. At that point, I decided that we could utilize the local chapters around the country to help us with the planning of events in their cities, and that's when we went out on our own. To help me with all the details that go into planning a conference like this, I assembled a permanent conference team consisting of Ed and Patty Rager from the D.C.

chapter, Paul and Linda Gloverson, and Mel and Kathy Turner from the San Diego chapter, and Gail Cox from the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter. Together with what I called my dream team, we scheduled and moved the conferences around the country without needing them to coordinate with any outside organization. Several of my conference dream team members are in attendance tonight.

I'd like to ask Ed and Patty Rager, Mel and Kathy Turner, and Gail Cox to stand up and be recognized. -All right. -They certainly made me look good, and I feel very lucky to have them as my dear friends. At the 2010 Bogo Head Conference, in a private conversation I had with Jack, he told me that he was concerned that once he was gone, his message would die with him.

I assured him that we would carry on, and that's when I suggested the Bogo Center. Jack liked the idea and agreed to serve as honorary chairman once I assured him that I'd serve as president and would take care of all the details. With the help of several pro bono Bogo Heads lawyers and the members of my dream team, we got the Bogo Center for Financial Literacy up and running.

The center then took over sponsoring the annual conferences. I served as president for 10 years before passing the baton on to the next generation of younger leaders who are doing an outstanding job of expanding the scope of operations of the center. Realizing that the Bogo Heads have become a brand name, I made the decision to trademark the Bogo Heads name.

The Bogo Center now owns and protects the trademarked Bogo Heads name. The Bogo Heads Forum continues to grow and helps to carry out the Bogo Center mission of financial literacy for all. There have been more than 700,000 posts on more than 350,000 topics made by more than 127,000 members.

And we now have approximately 100 local chapters around the U.S. and in many foreign countries. Hopefully you've enjoyed this quick trip down Bogo Heads memory lane as much as I have and realized that you are part of a very special group. And we have our friend and mentor, Jack Bogo, to thank for all of this.

Rest in peace, Jack. We're continuing to spread your message as promised. Enjoy the evening and the rest of your conference. I hope to see many of you at next year's conference. And in the meantime, I'll see you on the forum. Mel, that was wonderful. We have a special guest who would like to address you tonight.

What happened to Mel? Are you still there, Mel? You see me okay? We have a special guest who wishes to address you tonight. I'm going to ask Andrew Bogle to please come up to the stage. Thank you. It is my honor and privilege to be here tonight. We are here to celebrate the remarkable achievements of a true luminary in the field of personal finance.

Thank you, Mel, for all that you've done to educate, assist, teach, and console hundreds of thousands of people in their journey to save money and invest it wisely. Mel's generous spirit and sharing his knowledge has positively impacted countless individuals. Mel has not only helped people secure their financial futures, but also given them the confidence to navigate the complex financial markets.

Mel's journey is a testament to the power of lifelong learning, persistence, and the impact that one person can have on the community, just as it's said in that video. Please join me to congratulate Mel on his induction to the Bogle Heads Hall of Fame. Okay, Mel, go ahead and speak, because we were all clapping, giving you a standing ovation, so we didn't hear anything you said.

I said I'm really honored, and I'm glad I gave my speech earlier, because basically I'm speechless now. It's a true honor, and I'm so pleased to honor my friend and ally, Taylor, in the Bogle Center Hall of Fame, and I hope that at some point we don't forget to honor our patron saint, Jack, and include him in the Bogle Hall of Fame, because he certainly deserved to be in there.

Absolutely. Thank you, Mel, and hopefully everything goes well. We'll see you next year. Take care. you