STEPHEN CRANSTON: Jack Bogle’s blind spot
Bogle’s principal objection to exchange traded products was that they do not lend themselves to long-term investment; they are priced throughout the day like shares
It was quite an irony that Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle was an implacable opponent of exchange traded funds (ETFs). Bogle, who died this month, was lauded as the founder of index funds. Vanguard was the kulula or Ryanair of mutual funds. So you might expect Bogle to have been a fan of ETFs. I was given a copy of his book The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by one of his disciples, Steven Nathan of 10X Investments. Bogle’s principal objection to exchange traded products (ETPs) was that they do not lend themselves to long-term investment; they are priced throughout the day like shares. That’s true, but most investors use them for long-term investing. Large fund managers such as Schroders use them if they want to take a three-month tactical bet (Schroders prefers to call it a "tilt") on a smaller market such as Poland. Vanguard has since joined the ETP bandwagon, though I believe that Bogle never publicly changed his mind. I received a December 2018 report on the performance...
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