Editing John C Bogle (section)

== Career ==

=== Early Career ===

Bogle graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1951, where his senior thesis on mutual funds caught the attention of industry leaders. He joined Wellington Management Company and rose to become chairman before a merger-related dispute led to his departure in 1974.

=== Founding Vanguard ===

In 1975, Bogle founded The Vanguard Group in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, structured as a client-owned mutual fund company—a revolutionary concept in the investment industry. Unlike typical fund companies owned by outside investors seeking profit, Vanguard is owned by the funds themselves and, by extension, by the fund shareholders.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vanguard.com/bogle |title=About Jack Bogle |publisher=Vanguard |date=2019}}</ref>

=== Index Fund Revolution ===

In 1976, Bogle introduced the First Index Investment Trust (now the Vanguard 500 Index Fund), the first index mutual fund available to retail investors. The fund was initially derided as "Bogle's Folly" by industry critics who saw it as un-American to aim for merely average returns.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/obituaries/john-bogle-dead.html |title=John C. Bogle, Index Fund Pioneer, Dies at 89 |publisher=New York Times |date=January 16, 2019}}</ref>

The concept—buying and holding a diversified basket of stocks that mirrors a market index, with minimal trading and ultra-low fees—proved revolutionary. Over time, index investing has grown to represent trillions of dollars in assets and has fundamentally changed the investment industry.