Enough ~ John C. Bogle

Funk Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Part of me loved this book. It's high-time we started realizing:

(1) that we've had enough of the ridiculous, self-reinforcing spiral of financial infrastructure that has been built up over the past 25 years with investment bankers, private equity, hedge funds, mortgage bankers, lawyers, and other financial engineers that are overpaid to create layers of complexity in the form of derivatives, re-sellable coupon strips, swaps, etc. All in the name of risk management, portfolio management, and chasing the IRR... And,

(2) the important things in life can't be measured with money. Chasing money as the scorecard is a rabbit hole. You likely already have enough, you just don't realize it because you're looking the wrong way and thinking that next $X is all you need.

Bogle, who founded Vanguard, is obviously a wicked smart guy, and this book shows he's grounded in some pretty solid values. That said, he wandered his way through this book weaving the importance of efficient investing (which Vanguard does a great job at), values and morals, and a little preachiness. I enjoyed the book, but I could have used less "Vanguard as a great example" and more of his well-grounded arguments for why we've lost our way a bit over the past few decades...

I don't begrudge him anything. He's earned it, and he earned it the old fashioned way: by creating a company that does something valuable over the long-haul. It's a quick read, and a good reminder of what's important. And he helps you realize that your definition of "Enough" may be in need of a review...

Comments

[Andy]

I thought it was a great book and his observations were spot on.