Interview: John Bogle and Steve Forbes

by Mike

Last night I watched this interview between Steve Forbes and John Bogle. As always with Bogle, I found myself writing down several quotes and observations.

A handful of my favorites:

John Bogle on predicting the market: “The mistake we make as investors is when the market’s going up, we think it’s going to go up forever. And when the market’s going down, we think it’s going to go down forever. And neither of those two things happens.”

John Bogle on speculation as opposed to investing: “An investor is a person who owns a business and holds it forever and enjoys the returns…Speculation is betting on price: ‘I think i can buy this for 10 and sell it for twelve.’ …Speculation has no place in the portfolio of the typical investor.”

John Bogle on investment costs: “With investing, you get precisely what you don’t pay for. If you pay nothing, you get everything.”

Steve Forbes on investment costs: “People are very careful with their money when they buy a car. They go online, look at prices. They have coupons when they go to the supermarket. And yet, when it comes to money management, by golly, a thousand here, two thousand there, a percentage here, two percent there…”

Steve Forbes on the marketing of investments: “The problem with new financial products or systems is that it always works in the past. We don’t know if it will work in the future.”

So keep your costs low and forget about timing the market? Sounds good to me. :)

Want to learn more about investing?

Enter your email address to receive free updates from this blog. (You won't receive any emails other than blog posts, and you can unsubscribe at any time.)

Like Cliffs Notes...for Investing

If you're looking for a brief, plain-English introduction to investing, I'd encourage you to pick up a copy of my book: Investing Made Simple: Investing in Index Funds Explained in 100 Pages or Less.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Nurseb911 January 14, 2009 at 5:43 am

That’s a great list of quotes to help put things into perspective. Great site btw!

Leave a Comment

Comment Rules: Please keep comments on topic and respectful. Any comments that do not (in my opinion) follow these rules will be deleted.

Disclaimer #1: Many of the links on this site are affiliate links. That means that if you click through from my link and buy the linked-to product, or sign up for the linked-to service, I receive a commission. For example, if you click through to Amazon via one of my links, I receive a 6.5% commission for any product you purchase.


Disclaimer #2: By using this site, you explicitly agree to its Terms of Use and agree not to hold Simple Subjects, LLC or any of its members liable in any way for damages arising from decisions you make based on the information made available on this site. The information on this site is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.


Copyright 2010 Simple Subjects, LLC - All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy