John Bogle sees investment management as a zero sum game

In the debate about the fiduciary rule, one basic fact has been largely ignored. Investment wealth is created by our public corporations and reflected in stock prices. Stock market returns are then allocated between the financial industry (Wall Street) and shareholders (Main Street). So when the consulting firm A.T. Kearney projected that the fiduciary rule would result in as much as $20 billion in lost revenue for the industry by 2020, it meant that net investment returns for investors would increase by $20 billion.

By any definition, that’s a social good.

~ John Bogle, "Putting Clients Second," The New York Times, February 9, 2017

Kevin Duffy on the Fiduciary Rule

If we’re going to pass a law against conflicts of interest, shouldn’t there be a law against lobbying the government when such a conflict exists?  (Which is always, of course.)  How can John Bogle not admit that he and his friends benefit from the Fiduciary Rule?

The irony, of course, is that indexation needs discovery agents, and this legislation will put more obstacles in their path.  Without price discovery (e.g., interest rates set by the market) and discovery agents (active investors, short sellers, upstart entrepreneurs), there is no vibrant economy that generates the returns Mr. Bogle’s customers covet.

It can’t be a coincidence that the government only recently discovered the merits of high-liquidity low-fee investing after a tripling of the S&P 500 in 8 years and a 35 year bull market in bonds.  Should we be thanking them for ringing the bell yet again?

~ Kevin Duffy, April 11, 2017