Jack Bogle weighs in with the Bogleheads

They're buzzing over at the Bogleheads investment forum today because The Man himself, Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, signed on to offer some personal comments. The forum, formally the Vanguard Diehards Investment Forum, is a great place to learn and discuss sound investment principles. Like their hero, the Diehards are big believers in low costs, indexing and taking the long-term view.

Bogle describes himself as "unusually risk averse," but it hasn't prompted him to change his asset allocation. This is how he says he's invested: "My year-end statement from Vanguard (the only time I peek) shows about 63% bonds and 37% stocks, and--for a conservative, fairly well-to-do investor like me--I'm comfortable doing nothing. (In fact, I've made no changes in my asset allocation for 7 or 8 years.)"

Comments

[Gary]

I read this blog on occasion as well as being a regular reader of many financial websites. I was saddened to see the comments above by Rob Bennett. Mr. Bennett has been banned from many boards because of his abusive posting as well as his claims to be a financial adviser. [Hint: Pick a financial adviser who is mathematically competent and who is able to manage his own finances in a sensible fashion.]

I hope everyone will have the good senses to ignore his slanderous comments.

[Schroeder]

The following comment by Rob Bennett is in violation of the tampabay.com comment policy that forbids comments known to be inaccurate:

"This [The Bogleheads forum] was created by a group of highly abusive posters who destroyed the Vanguard Diehards board."

1) This is slander against the moderators of the Bogleheads forum.

2) The Vanguard Diehards forum at Morningstar is still active, but with fewer posts than before. However, this could be due to

a) the very clunky upgrade to the forum software which makes posting there much more difficult,

b) the much easier-to-use forum software at the Bogleheads forum or

c) the big-name posters like Larry Swedroe and Rick Ferri post exclusively at the Bogleheads forum instead of the Vanguard Diehards.

For these reasons, the Bogleheads forum attracts many more posts than the Diehards forum at Morningstar.

[Jason]

Rob, there are 5000 members at Bogleheads. They seem to be doing just fine with many posts every day. Are the site owners really abusive or is this sour grapes on your part since your participation isn't wanted?

[Rob Bennett]

The amazing thing is that those two comments are a big step up from what I usually see.

Holy moly!

Rob

[khan]

Read about Rob Bennett and Morningstar:

http://www.passionsaving.com/200702.html#e372

[Good Samaritan]

Any reader who wants a comprehensive view of what all the people quoted at Rob's link really think of his theories, views, and behavior should read

http://www.s152957355.onlinehome.us/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1189390571/4#4

[Rob Bennett]

Helen:

I was glad to see you write about Jack Bogle's appearance at the Bogleheads board. I have written many thousands of posts at internet discussion boards and learned much from the experience. I see the discussion board as an important communications medium of the future.

There's a big problem with this medium, however, and I think it needs to be noted in connection with the Bogleheads board. This board was created by a group of highly abusive posters who destroyed the Vanguard Diehards board because it permitted honest posting on Bogle's views on the effect of valuations on long-term returns (some of Bogle's views are highly controversial at times of high stock prices).

There are many fine posts appearing at the new board everyday, but a prohibition on honest posting on valuations remains in effect there today. I think it would be fair to characterize a board that prohibits honest posting on so important a question as a corrupt enterprise. It is my strongly held view that Bogle should insist that the ban on honest posting on valuations be lifted and that he should not offer further endorsements of the board until it does.

A large number of posters at the Vanguard Diehards board favored the idea of permitting honest posting on the effect of valuations. I have an article at my web site that provides snippets from a good number of their comments:

http://www.passionsaving.com/investing-discussion-boards.html

If you have an interest in writing an article on this matter, I would be happy to provide any background information needed to do so and to answer any questions about it that you might have.

Rob