How John Bogle's Vanguard Changed Wall Street Investing Forever: The Origin of S&P 500
Channel: Money Thinkers
Date: 11/12/2023

In 1975, a revolution began in the basement of a small financial firm called Vanguard.
Its leader was John C. Bogle, an unassuming man with horn-rimmed glasses and a beating heart that had already endured half a dozen heart attacks.

Yet Bogle was about to shake the towering pillars of Wall Street to their core. His weapon? The index fund.

Bogle realized most active money managers charging high fees failed to outperform simple index funds tracking markets. So he launched the first index fund available to the public, despite skeptics everywhere.

Against all odds, Bogle’s Vanguard Group grew from nothing to surpass $7 trillion under management. It fueled a seismic shift toward passive investing that still roils the financial industry today.

To understand Bogle’s revolution, we must go back to his early fascination with the fledgling mutual fund industry.