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In the long run, investing is not about markets at all. Investing is about enjoying the returns earned by businesses.

John C. Bogle

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John C. Bogle
Age: 89 †
Born: 1929
Born: May 8
Died: 2019
Died: January 16
Economist
Financier
Investor
Montclair Township
John Clifton Jack Bogle
Jack Bogle
Enjoying
Businesses
Investing
Return
Enjoy
Running
Returns
Long
Earned
Markets

More quotes by John C. Bogle

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Hint: money flows into most funds after good performance, and goes out when bad performance follows.
John C. Bogle
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The mutual fund industry has been built, in a sense, on witchcraft.
John C. Bogle
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The mistakes we make as investors is when the market's going up, we think it's going to go up forever. When the market goes down, we think it's going to go down forever. Neither of those things actually happen. Doesn't do anything forever. It's by the moment.
John C. Bogle
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While I haven't read economist Robin Hahnel's work, replacing capitalism would be at the very bottom of my list of priorities - to be considered only after everything else had been tried. Improving our capitalistic system however, is at the top of my list and is of course the major theme of The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism.
John C. Bogle
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The courage to press on regardless - regardless of whether we face calm seas or rough seas, and especially when the market storms howl around us - is the quintessential attribute of the successful investor.
John C. Bogle
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If it is hard to imagine that 20% of losses on the stock market, you should never participate
John C. Bogle
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Fund investors are confident that they can easily select superior fund managers. They are wrong.
John C. Bogle
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I believe that the mutual fund industry's biggest shortcoming is too much focus on the momentary price of a stock - an illusion - and too little focus on the intrinsic value of the corporation - the ultimate reality. I'm comforted by the fact that Warren Buffett feels the same way.
John C. Bogle
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Reversion to the mean is the iron rule of the financial markets.
John C. Bogle
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If your fund doesn't last for the long term, how can you invest for the long term?
John C. Bogle
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Corporate leaders surely have their problems, I believe that most CEOs are doing their best to hew to the ethical line. The problem is that that line has gotten blurred and that our moral standard seems to be if everybody else is doing it, it's okay. That's not good enough for me.
John C. Bogle
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If you're very talented and keep winning, you'll do just fine. It may take a while. But the talent is hard to identify and talent is hard to tell from luck. There's an awful lot of luck in this business. Past performance is not helpful in judging future performance.
John C. Bogle
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Yes, the investor is often his own worst enemy. Yes, the marketing colossus known as the mutual fund industry provides the weaponry which enables investors to indulge their suicidal instincts. No, the fund industry was hardly an innocent bystander in the market boom and the subsequent carnage. We have met the enemy and he is us... all of us.
John C. Bogle
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I would always advise young people to follow their star - not my star. They have to live their own life. If they decide they want to go into the investment business, do it, but make it a better business than it is today.
John C. Bogle
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Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent, balanced human beings have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic expectations, patience, and perseverance.
John C. Bogle
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Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!
John C. Bogle
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Capitalism is not a Ponzi scheme. Capitalism is a scheme of free markets.
John C. Bogle
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I think it's gone much too far. Most of them are not worth the powder to blow them to hell.
John C. Bogle
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Sure there are some companies at the margins of our society that probably do that and I think we all have the responsibility as consumers and as investors to avoid them like the plague. If we do, they won't last very long. Doing what's right is the only possible formula for long-term - I emphasize long term - business success.
John C. Bogle
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I will create value for society, rather than extract it.
John C. Bogle