EARLY HISTORY

In 1998, there was an effort by Taylor Larimore and others to create a new online discussion forum at Morningstar.com. The new forum would be devoted to discussions of index fund investing as espoused by Vanguard founder, John C. (Jack) Bogle. The folks leading this effort were called “Bogleheads.” Back then, the term “Bogleheads” was used by non-Bogleheads as a bit of a derogatory term. However, we Bogleheads accepted it as a badge of honor.

Morningstar finally gave in to the pressure and established the new forum, but they were reluctant to name it the “Bogleheads” because they were concerned that it might be considered offensive. Instead, they chose to name the new forum the “Vanguard Diehards,” with a subheading “Bogleheads Unite to Talk About Your Favorite Fund Company.”

The new forum was a smashing success and soon became the most popular forum on Morningstar.com. Eventually, the number of posts on the new forum surpassed the count of all the other Morningstar forums combined.

BOGLEHEAD CONFERENCES

Jack Bogle responded to a Thanksgiving 1999 post he saw on the forum, asking if there were any interest in getting together with him for a day at a non-resort location. Of course there was, so Taylor and I decided to have our first-ever Boglehead get-together with Jack in Miami, where he was to be the keynote speaker at the 2001 Miami Herald Making Money seminar. That event, held in Taylor and Pat’s bayside condominium, turned into an almost-annual conference with Jack Bogle as the guest of honor. Subsequent events were held in Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., San Diego, and Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Because of concerns about his health, we decided to minimize Jack’s travel, so we’ve held all subsequent events in Philadelphia. The 2017 Bogleheads Conference was the sixteenth in the series. (We missed one year when we were writing our first book, The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing.)

THE BIG MOVE

In 2007, the Bogleheads moved from Morningstar and formed our own forum at www.Bogleheads.org. Born out of frustration over the lack of moderating and the difficulties with the website at Morningstar, the new, moderated Bogleheads.org forum has been a remarkable success. Today, the new forum has become the premier investing forum on the Internet.

FORUM STATISTICS

As of this writing, the new forum is getting up to 4.5 million hits per day and is visited by as many as 90,000 unique individuals daily. While individuals must register to post (it’s free), registration is not required to read the millions of previously-posted questions and answers. (This is affectionately known as “lurking”).

There are more than 70,000 registered Boglehead members from around the globe. At any one time, there are between 1,000 and 2,000 individuals online. Of that number, unregistered guests (the lurkers) normally outnumber registered members by approximately 10 to 1. Projecting that figure could mean that as many as 700,000 or more investors visit the forum from time to time.

Registered members have made more than 3,700,000 posts on more than 227,000 topics.

While all this is certainly impressive, what really makes the Boglehead community so very special is the quality of both the help and the information offered by so many selfless Bogleheads, who want to contribute in any way they can to help our community help others reach their financial goals.

LOCAL CHAPTERS

At the time of this writing, there are 73 local Bogleheads chapters throughout the United States and 6 foreign chapters (Paris, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE/Dubai, and Israel). Chapter leaders communicate with their members using the Local Chapters and Bogleheads Community subsection of the Bogleheads.org forum. There, they establish meeting dates, times, locations, agendas, and any other issues of importance. Here’s a rather lengthy link to the Google map showing locations of Bogleheads local chapters, along with contact information: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1KX-WSvjOwmi1fLocIrz5wHiBB7s&ll=36.708751919221015%2C-95.86343664218749&z=3.

WIKI

Our community’s wiki is the repository of a wealth of investing information, contributed by nearly 250 Boglehead editors who want to help other investors gain financial literacy. There are currently more than 900 pages of content covering a multitude of investing topics such as asset allocation, taxes, rebalancing and a host of other important subjects, all written and kept updated by those Boglehead editors. Our wiki editors continue to add important information on an ongoing basis. The wiki averages about 25,000 visits per day, but there have been days when that number approached 35,000. For those who feel overwhelmed, the wiki offers a “Getting Started” section. There’s a link to the wiki on nearly every page of the Bogleheads.org forum.

BOGLEHEADS BOOKS

The Bogleheads’ message has been expanded even further by the publication of two previous Bogleheads books—The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing and The Bogleheads’ Guide to Retirement Planning. The Bogleheads’ Guide to The Three-Fund Portfolio is the third in the series. We have a number of published investment authors who freely contribute their knowledge to the forum on a regular basis. Even Vanguard founder, Jack Bogle, posts on the forum from time to time.

THE JOHN C. BOGLE CENTER FOR FINANCIAL LITERACY

The John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy was established in 2010 and is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The Center was established to continue Vanguard founder John C. Bogle’s crusade to see that investors get their fair share of market returns and to raise the level of financial literacy for all investors so they may realize their goals and achieve financial independence.

Second, the Bogle Center has helped with the funding of the www.bogleheads.org online investing forum, that works to educate investors from around the world. The forum is now the world’s largest commercial-free financial forum on the Internet.

The Bogle Center organizes and manages the annual Bogleheads conferences that educate investors from around the country and around the world. Our conferences have attracted attendees from nearly every state in the union, as well as attendees from several foreign countries. The conferences are a great success and are usually sold out within a few days following their announcement.

The Bogle Center works to educate the public about sound financial principles, including living below one’s means; staying out of debt; saving; investing wisely in a diversified, tax-efficient manner; minimizing investment costs; and contributing to available tax-advantaged plans to help them reach their financial goals.

Taylor is graciously donating all royalties from this book to the Bogle Center. If you would like to join him in Jack’s crusade “to give ordinary investors a fair shake,” please mail your tax-deductible donation to:

The John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy

6977 Navajo Road, Suite 147

San Diego, CA 92119-1503