Character Counts: The Creation and Building of the Vanguard Group [Signed] [First Edition]

by John C. Bogle

"Vanguard has grown to become the world's largest no-load mutual fund organization and by far the world's lowest-cost provider of financial services to independent investors. But far more than its unprecedented size and remarkable rate of growth, it is Vanguard's concern for the rights of the independent investor that mark it as the most truly progressive company in the mutual fund industry." "And its founder, John Bogle, is that industry's greatest visionary." Character Counts presents Bogle at his most straightforward and unvarnished, through the words and ideas of forty-two actual speeches - complete with newly written commentary - that he has given to Vanguard crew members since Vanguard's founding in 1974.

Genres: Finance

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

John Clifton "Jack" Bogle (born May 8, 1929) is the founder and retired CEO of The Vanguard Group. He is known for his 1999 book Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor, which became a bestseller and is considered a classic.
More on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._...

Reviews

[James Pinola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think it would ever end, I should have just bailed on it. Painfully repetitive, dry, boring. A few, and I mean a few, nuggets of wisdom but not worth the effort. I should have just read the cliff notes online and called it a day but I felt a tug of guilt to read this because it was gifted to me.

[Karen Hensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helps me have a framework for reading other investment books. I enjoyed both the story and information that Bogle writes about. Many people do not even know that Vanguard is a not-for-profit enterprise, and this book tells how and why it came into being.

[Wayne Zill · Rating 5 out of 5]

IF our investment managers and financial institutions had half of the character and investment principles of John Bogle, we most likely would not be in the financial mess we are in since 2007 ... This is well worth reading, especially after the experience we are having in America from 2007 to 2010 and perhaps for the rest of most of our lives ....

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

An ego project to bind a boring man's speeches into a book.

Vanguard is a great company with a great mission. In a world of greedy financial service companies, Vanguard does occupy the moral high ground of not being built to turn a profit. And Bogle has done a tremendous job to shape an industry, but Gandhi he is not. This book should be pulped with anything Lee Iacocca or Jack Welch wrote.