Don't Count On It! Reflections on Investment Illusions, Capitalism, "Mutual" Funds, Indexing, Entrepreneurship, Idealism, and Heroes

Don’t Count on It! Reflections on INVESTMENT ILLUSIONS, CAPITALISM, “MUTUAL” FUNDS, INDEXING, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, IDEALISM, and HEROS By John C. Bogle

Foreword by Dr. Alan S. Blinder

Co-Director, Princeton Center for Economic Policy Studies

and Former Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve Board

The ninth book from financial industry legend John C. Bogle

When John C. Bogle talks, people listen.  Named by TIME magazine as one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people, the legendary founder of The Vanguard Group has, in the words of Forbes magazine, “done more good for investors than any other financier of the past century.” In November this best-selling author will release his highly anticipated ninth book, Don’t Count on It! Reflections on Investment Illusions, Capitalism, “Mutual” Funds, Indexing, Entrepreneurship, Idealism, and Heroes (Wiley, 2010). 

Don’t Count on It! is an anthology of Bogle’s most important and insightful work over the past decade. In it, Bogle describes how numbers deceive us into seeing things as other than they really are and details the consequences our society suffers when so many decisions in corporate America and investment America are based on illusion rather than reality. The book examines how, as former Federal Reserve vice chairman Alan Blinder writes in the foreword, “America’s vaunted financial system let us down,” and offers Bogle’s solutions to repair the widespread damage.   

The recent global financial crisis and stock market collapse of 2007-2009 have forced us to consider the flaws of modern-day capitalism. Don’t Count on It! provokes debate and thoughtful examination of the ways in which our complex financial system must be reformed, and encourages readers to not only ask questions, but demand answers that are understandable, intelligent and wise. 

Don’t Count on It! is organized around seven themes:

• Investment Illusions
• The Failure of Capitalism
• What’s Wrong with “Mutual” Funds
• What’s Right with Indexing
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Idealism and the New Generation
• Heroes and Mentors 

Written in his straightforward and accessible style, Bogle offers unparalleled insights on investment strategy, the financial markets, and the values that we should emulate in our business and professional callings. 

Widely acclaimed as “the conscience of Wall Street” and a relentless advocate for individual investors, in Don’t Count on It! Bogle continues to inspire, while challenging the nation’s enormous financial sector to measure up to its promise and return to traditional standards of fiduciary duty. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John C. Bogle is the founder of The Vanguard Group, and president of Vanguard’s Bogle Financial Markets Research Center.  He created Vanguard in 1974 and served as chairman and chief executive until 1996 and senior chairman until 2000.  The Vanguard Group is the largest mutual fund organization in the world.

 In 2004, Time magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people, and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 1999, Fortune designated him as one of the investment industry's four "Investment Giants” of the twentieth century.  He is the author of nine books, most recently Common Sense on Mutual Funds, 10^th Anniversary Edition (Wiley, 2009) and ENOUGH. True Measures of Money, Business, and Life (Wiley, 2010). 

John resides in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Eve.  They are the parents of six children and the grandparents of twelve.

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Don’t Count on It!

Reflections on Investment Illusions, Capitalism, “Mutual” Funds, Indexing, Entrepreneurship, Idealism, and Heroes

By John C. Bogle

Wiley; November 2010; $29.95; Hardcover

ISBN: 978-0-470-64396-9