Poll: How did Bogle's philosophy affect your investing?

[jidina80]

After reading books by Bogle and others on the merits of investing in low-cost diversified mutual funds instead of 'playing the market', I shifted most of my investments into index fund funds. How did learning of Bogle's investment philosophy, or 'Vanguarding', affect your investing behavior?

[BHCadet]

Everything...
The last 5 choices applied to me totally.

[mhc]

Everything...
The last 5 choices applied to me totally.

+1

I really didn't understand investing or have a rational strategy until finding this site. I had been investing for 20+ years without a clue.

[Grt2bOutdoors]

Costs matter - moved from active to index and "you don't need 8 different mutual funds to create a diversified portfolio" (well, at least in my taxable account I don't )

[pennstater2005]

I didn't know what expense ratios were until finding this site. My financial adviser wasn't too happy when I asked about index funds.

[ruralavalon]

Primarily "I moved money out of individual stocks into diversified [index] mutual funds".

We weren't using any actively managed mutual funds. We had no taxable account, so taxes efficiency wasn't involved initially.

[Default User BR]

After reading books by Bogle and others on the merits of investing in low-cost diversified mutual funds instead of 'playing the market', I shifted most of my investments into index fund funds. How did learning of Bogle's investment philosophy, or 'Vanguarding', affect your investing behavior?

It didn't, at least directly. I learned from others who built on his work.


Brian

[jidina80]

After reading books by Bogle and others on the merits of investing in low-cost diversified mutual funds instead of 'playing the market', I shifted most of my investments into index fund funds. How did learning of Bogle's investment philosophy, or 'Vanguarding', affect your investing behavior?

It didn't, at least directly. I learned from others who built on his work.

For most people, I imagine Bogle was one of several influences. That's why I phrased the question as "Bogle's investment philosophy", not Bogle the person.

[paulsiu]

Bogle has made me lazy . Before I read Bogle, I spent a lot of time researching mutual funds, changing my allocation, etc. After reading Bogle's work, I don't do any of that stuff any more. I barely look at my investment now and make only adjustments every couple of years. It has free my time for other pursues. Unfortunately, free time always get filled by other pointless things in life.

Paul

[Sunny Sarkar]

I was lucky to have invested according to the Boglehead philosophy pretty much from the start. It was late 2000, my employer had offered a 401k match - which made me think about starting a 401k portfolio (to capture the "free money"), which in turn forced me to make sense of the investment offerings in the 401k plan. I started reading on the web, learned about index funds in fool.com, and stumbled upon Jason Zwieg's article about the Vanguard Diehards. My first post was something like: what are bonds?, and the second post was: is it John or Jack (Bogle)? - didn't know Jack is a derivative of John.

[Epsilon Delta]

Hard to say. I first learned of Bogle's philosophy before I had money to invest.

[Juniormint]

I was lucky that my first foray into investing was the boglehead way. However, even if I hadn't found bogleheads, I think my views were pretty consistent with Bogle. I had already decided to invest with vanguard and was going to do target retirement fund based on my asset allocation and diversification needs. I found Bogleheads shortly after and my original pre-bogle-plan was implemented.

[sscritic]

I never read a Bogle book. Can I vote?

P.S. I have been reluctant to spend money (cheap) all my life. I don't need someone else to tell me how to be that way.

[stonerolled]

Everything...
The last 5 choices applied to me totally.

+1

I really didn't understand investing or have a rational strategy until finding this site. I had been investing for 20+ years without a clue.

+1
I read 'common sense on mutual funds' and after 23 years of ML and EJ, it all clicked and a peace about investing came over me.
Since then, I have had the feeling of being rescued from something, financial redemption.
I gave the book to my brother and no response at all, nothing.
so I cant say 'what if?' because the light doesnt come on till one is ready if at all.

[crowd79]

The #1 thing I have learned since joining this Bogleheads forum is the importance of expense ratios and it's effect over time. Substantially more money will go towards my Vanguard IRA as opposed to my work 401k starting next year, bringing down my expense ratios. More money kept for myself over time and less going towards paying for someone else's coffee and Lexus.

[Toons]

"The Majesty Of Simplicity"

[hazlitt777]

I still think his book, Common Sense on Mutual Funds, had the greatest impact upon me of any financial book. I actually read it twice and even outlined it. I think I still have that outline on my computer somewhere.

Indexing, asset allocation, controlling cost, simplicity, taking into consideration taxes, diversification, buy and hold and rebalancing were some of the big things he helped me focus on.

Perhaps also, he helped me let go completely of the temptation or need to try to outperform the market, especially since 85% of actively managed funds over time underperform indexing. I never wasted my time on "speculating" but put my time and energy in understanding the fundamentals. I will always be grateful for his influence in all these ways and others too I'm sure.