The Times, They Have A-Changed At Vanguard as ETFs Are Embraced
January 14th at 12:00pm by Tom Lydon
John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, sent Nathan Most packing when he had an innovative idea to develop the exchange traded fund (ETF).
Most, who died four years ago, was a product developer back then for American Stock Exchange and Bogle was running Vanguard. The idea of trading index funds defeated the entire purpose of a buy-and-hold strategy, which he prefers.
Michael Maiello for Forbes says Most went to State Street with his idea. In 1993, they debuted the Spider Trust, an ETF family that tracks the S&P 500.
While Bogle still has a problem with ETFs, current management sees the benefits of them. His successor at Vanguard is John Brennan, and he takes a more progressive approach. In 2001, Vanguard entered the ETF industry and now claims $43 billion in these funds. He is also the creator of the "Vanguard ETF Momentum" a strategy that is aggressive even for day traders.
As for market share, Vanguard touts the most cost-efficient ETFs. Of the 25 cheapest ETFs, Vanguard claims 19. Vanguard has also maintained tracking a bond benchmark better than the rest, which isn’t quite as easy as tracking a broader index.
