Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life by John C. Bogle (PDF)

Description

John Bogle puts our obsession with financial success in perspectiveThroughout his legendary career, John C. Bogle-founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group and creator of the first index mutual fund-has helped investors build wealth the right way and led a tireless campaign to restore common sense to the investment world. Along the way, he’s seen how destructive an obsession with financial success can be. Now, with Enough., he puts this dilemma in perspective.Inspired in large measure by the hundreds of lectures Bogle has delivered to professional groups and college students in recent years, Enough. seeks, paraphrasing Kurt Vonnegut, “to poison our minds with a little humanity.” Page by page, Bogle thoughtfully considers what “enough” actually means as it relates to money, business, and life.Reveals Bogle’s unparalleled insights on money and what we should consider as the true treasures in our livesDetails the values we should emulate in our business and professional callingsContains thought-provoking life lessons regarding our individual roles in societyWritten in a straightforward and accessible style, this unique book examines what it truly means to have “enough” in world increasingly focused on status and score-keeping.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Bogle wrote Enough in the midst of the 2008 Financial Crisis. I had always been quick to read new Bogle books, but was particularly interested in his take on the Crisis, and especially the character changes in society that enabled it. I read it for the first time within a month of it coming out.Bogle has been my hero for a long time. I had the good fortune to spend one and a half hours with him in his office in Malvern in 2014 and to do a podcast interview of him in 2015. The world lost its greatest steward of investment wealth with his passing in 2019.Recently I read a wealth advisor’s blog on his commentaries on “enough”. I liked the author’s viewpoints, remembering how it sounded a lot like Bogle. I said, “Time to re-read Enough”.I have now read this book maybe five times. Agreeing with Tom Peters in the Prologue, “this is the best business book I’ve ever read, and as good a primer on life as I’ve read as well.”I sought out my previously read copy with its copious highlighting and dog-eared pages. Could not find it. Must have loaned it to a friend. Fortunately, I had another copy on the shelf (I have given this book out a lot over the years!).When I read, I highlight copiously, yet reserve a “dog-ear” for a page that I find especially insightful. This aids in a quick review of a book–go back a re-read only the turned-over-corner pages. On this reading, I dog-eared eight pages. For this review, I thought I would give a sentence or two on each of these special pages from this most-recent reading.#1 p. 31 (2010 edition, paperback)Relates quote from Warren Buffett partner, Charlie Munger, who laments so much “ethical young brain power” going into finance when they could be distinguished by work “providing much more value to others”. Bogle precedes this with “far too many of us seemingly no longer make anything; we’re merely trading pieces of paper”.#2 p. 85His commentary on “Fundamental Indexing”, that branch of money managers who recommend you not weight portfolios by market cap, but by using “factors” such as book value, market cap, earnings, etc. He comments that it is not appropriate to say, “value investing wins” when we observe value outperforming in the past. Bogle is consistent here and in all his writings that winning investment performance in the past creates high valuations, making it less likely to win in the future. (This is exactly what has happened to value and many other “factor” approaches since 2008!)#3. p. 115This is how Bogle begins his section entitled “The Spirit of Trust”. “My faith in trust goes back to the Golden Rule. We are, after all, implored in the Bible to love our neighbors…” Bogle’s integrity is so high, I am eager to learn of his inspiration and underpinnings. As a Christian, I love that he finds deep truth in the Bible.#4 p. 123This is early on in the chapter “Too Much Business Conduct, Not Enough Professional Conduct”. Bogle relays how in times past, a “professional” was someone who was out to do good in the world. Think physician, teacher, attorney, engineer, architect. In today’s age of focus on money, Bogle sees all the professions tempted more by “doing good for me”. He suggests trustees of “other people’s money” are professionals too, but he is not seeing the fruit of it. Bogle writes: “Harvard Business School professor Rakesh Khurana was right on the mark when he defined the conduct of a true professional with these words: ‘I will create value for society, rather than extract it.’”#5 p. 183Relates a summary of the book and film, A Civil Action. The story is of corporate-caused water pollution causing multiple leukemia cases in a Massachusetts town. The attorney working for the injured has a transformed life so much so that he loses all his personal wealth in the legal fight. This is to such an extent that the attorney’s bankruptcy judges asks, “Where are the things by which one measures one’s life?” Bogle ends this mini-review reminded of one of his favorite hymns: God of Grace and God of Glory.He finally inspired me to watch this movie for the first time! It is powerful.#6 p. 190.Another reference to his religious foundations:“I am not at all embarrassed to mention the constructive role of religion in fostering these higher values…the virtues of the Golden Rule, and standards of conduct that parallel the Ten Commandments. We thrive as human beings and as families not by what faith we happen to hold, but by having faith, faith in something far greater than ourselves.”#7 p. 196Relates the popular T. S. Eliot quote that I love so much:“Where is the Life we have lost in living?Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuriesBring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust”#8 p. 224In the chapter “Not Enough Character”, he gets personal and vulnerable. No doubt, Bogle achieved success and significance in his life. Yet, he is human, and we all at times struggle with our worth.Excerpt: “Most of us should not have to spend much time wondering whether the rabbits we are chasing are real or false…Yet in the quiet of the evening and sometime loneliness of the soul, many of those who shouldn’t need to wonder about the value of hard work and life well lived doubtless do exactly that. … (Perhaps it will surprise you to learn that I do a lot of lonely wondering about the worth of my own life and career)….We’ll be better human beings and achieve greater things if we challenge ourselves to pursue careers that create value for society—with personal wealth not as the goal, but as the by-product.”I thoroughly benefitted from my re-read of Enough. I hope to find my earlier dog-eared version to compare the differences in my special pages then v. now.

⭐First of all, John Bogle is a great American and I consider myself a proponent of his investing strategy. I have read other books of his, and this one disappointed me. Why? Because it repeats themes in the other books I have read and is so basic and common sense, that I found myself perpetually waiting for something profound to pop-up. I cant believe the introduction raves about what a special book this is, the only reason I am glad I read it, is I was curious about the book for so long, I got that out of the way. I toyed with giving it two stars, but out of admiration for John Bogle, I gave it “3”. Keep your expectations in check if you purchase this book, it is not so much about having “Enough” in life, as it is about loosely coupled themes centered around morality, values and finance.

⭐… from a very wise man who knows when enough is enough! Mr. Bogle does an outstanding job of reminding us that avarice and mendacity have gotten us to where we are today at the expense of poor saps like you and me who continue to put up with the greedy [expletive deleted] who engineered this whole financial, social, and environmental mess in which we find ourselves today. His thoughts and insights are provocative and on the mark. We all need to ponder such questions as: Does traditional capitalism work? Is this a true democracy? Are we truly free, or are most of us really just slaves? Will our “leaders” ever step forth to solve the truly important issues in time to prevent humanity from destroying itself? When will most of us realize that enough is enough and convince our “leaders,” with our votes and support, that this enough-is-enough concept must apply to America, the entire world, and the future of civilization? Will future generations judge us a failure or a success? I recommend this book to anyone who looks for answers to such probing questions, and who may have the energy, ability, and intelligence to work on finding answers — and solutions — before it’s too late.

⭐Wow, how had I not heard of this book until recently?? Great, well-written book reminding us to return to the long-term principles of integrity and professionalism. Mr Bogle is apt in reminding us not to put blind faith in assuming future returns will mimic historical returns. Today’s market and trading styles have changed! Good life and business lessons too. Highly recommend!!

⭐Bogle’s thoughts on markets and investing have developed a passionate group of followers. The first part of “Enough…” goes over history and and his principles again, but with little that’s been previously unsaid. I did enjoy his expose’ of the financial services industry and the large structure whose only apparent purpose seems to be siphoning off value that should belong to shareholders. However, Bogle doesn’t go far enough with this topic nor does he take on the dupes and financial illiterates, including nearly all of our elected officials, who enable the travesty he decries.The second half book appeared to me as an inconclusive and poorly focused rumination on excesses and satisfaction, but I could never come to grips with exactly what Bogle was trying to communicate. Apparently I completely missed the point, but I still cannot diagnose whether the weakness is in my reading or Bogle’s writing.I would skip this book entirely and focus instead on other works that explain his diagnosis of the industry and views on investing, which would be more satisfying.

⭐[UPDATE – JUNE 2013: I have recently revisited this volume, in researching ideas for my own firm’s best practice resources, and was struck again by how grounded this volume is. One of the real strengths of it is that the author shows his ideas about value, and service and purpose, within the context of society’s intellectual development. These are not ‘just’ his ideas (although that would be good enough). Instead, he shows how our reasonable estimations of value can be reliably built upon understandings and discoveries that others have already documented. We lose our way because we unlearn past lessons, and ignore the wisdom and insights of others who have already thought these matters through.]This is a brilliant book. In fact, it is almost impossible to locate a serious weakness to criticise. Bogle is ‘chatty’ in the way that he writes, but in many ways that’s part of its charm – as you interact with this highly moral text, it feels as if Jack Bogle is actually talking to you about the issues he highlights.And – boy – do we need to be talking about this subject! As one who has worked within the personal investment/financial planning sector for 27 years, and viewed with increasing dismay the inexorable procession of initiatives, mostly designed to part individual investors from their personal wealth, this book is almost prophetic in tone.Bogle deals head-on with our over-complex, unnecessarily expensive, opportunistic and unaccountable financial services culture, and although the book is based upon his first-hand experience of the US, it is remarkably applicable to where we currently are in the UK. This is a book which focuses resolutely on the values which ought to underpin successful outcomes for investors, the kind of values which often appear to be entirely absent from the UK retail financial services culture. Bogle is a man obsessed with clarity and transparency within the investment world, and it shows – I cannot recommend it highly enough to anyone serious about delivering good-quality investment outcomes for their clients.

⭐a very good book

⭐The truth of capitalism a must read, its plus points and its negatives

⭐Great book

⭐I have a huge respect for John Bogle who was the only fund manager in history to not rip off investors with huge fees. He worked only for the benefit of his investors but I was hoping for something like “Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel in this book. This book rather than telling how to focus on how to deal with living with enough gives a detail insight on how the mutual fund industry works. Great information however that is not what I was looking for

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