Following the death of Vanguard Group founder, John “Jack” Bogle on Wednesday, we look back at his most apparent legacy. The firm he founded in 1975 now manages nearly $5 trillion in assets, the majority of which is managed under his pioneering idea of passive investing. The simple idea to offer funds that merely followed the market instead of looking to beat it, at costs lower than what would later be called active management, took time to catch on. The concept was soon adopted by competitors such as BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors which combined with Vanguard, managed just less than $9 trillion in passive assets as of the end of September.
Vanguard's assets have grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 20% since 1975 and 12.6% since the end of 2009.
