致编辑的信
致编辑，《经济学人》2014 年 5 月 19 日
先生：作为首个指数共同基金的创立者，我很高兴贵刊对指数基金针对投资者的效用给予了慷慨评价。但贵刊在《廉价即乐观》和《为求生存而投资》（2014 年 5 月 3 日）两文中，严重低估了指数基金在先锋集团——我 40 年前创立的企业——所发挥的作用，以及其在美国共同基金行业正在增长的强大影响力。
Letter to the editor, The Economist May 19, 2014 Sir: As creator of the first index mutual fund, I was delighted with your generous appraisal of the utility of index funds for investors. But both in “Cheap is Cheerful” and “Will Invest for Food” (May 3, 2014), you seriously underestimated the role of index funds at Vanguard, the firm I founded 40 years ago, as well as their powerful and growing impact on the U.S. mutual fund industry.
是的，我们最初那只先锋 500 指数基金的资产目前总计 1680 亿美元。（实际上，投资者每年的运作成本仅为 0.05%，只有你提到的 0.20% 成本的四分之一。）但它的姊妹基金——先锋（500）机构指数基金——资产也达到 1680 亿美元，两者合计 3360 亿美元。我们的全股票市场指数基金（一个涵盖更广的美国股票指数）在策略上与之高度相似，又增加了 3360 亿美元，三者合计高达 7020 亿美元。
Yes, assets of our original Vanguard 500 Index Fund now total $168 billion. (In fact, annual costs to investors run at 0.05% per year, only one-fourth of the 0.20% cost that you cite.) But the assets of its sister Vanguard (500) Institutional Index Fund total another $168 billion--$336 billion combined. Assets of our Total Stock Market Index Fund (a broader index of U.S. stocks) add another $336 billion in a substantially similar strategy, $702 billion in all.
接下来是国际（美国以外）股票指数基金，资产规模再增 1870 亿美元。加上总计 1920 亿美元的全美债券市场指数基金，全市场先锋领航指数基金的总资产达到 1.1 万亿美元。另有 61 只更专业的指数基金合计规模为 5610 亿美元。总体来看，指数基金在先锋领航 2.5 万亿美元的整个资产基础中占到 1.6 万亿美元。因此，令人意外的并不是先锋领航指数基金的资产“还不够高”；真正让许多同行感到意外的是，它们已经占据了如此主导的地位。事实上，指数基金正是推动先锋领航崛起为全球最大共同基金管理公司的核心力量。
And then there are our international (non-U.S.) stock index funds, with assets of yet another $187 billion. Add in the Total (U.S.) Bond Market Index Funds of $192 billion, and the combined assets of broad-market Vanguard index funds reach $1.1 trillion. Another 61 more specialized index funds total $561 billion. All together, index funds account for $1.6 trillion of Vanguard’s entire $2.5 trillion asset base. So, the surprise is not that the assets of Vanguard’s index funds are “not even higher”; the surprise (to many of our peers) is that is how dominant they have become. In fact, index funds have been the driving force in Vanguard’s rise to become the largest mutual fund manager in the world.
就整个基金行业而言，毫不夸张地说，它正处在一场投资革命之中。自 2007 年以来，美国投资者从主动管理型美国股票基金中净撤资 5170 亿美元，同时向被动管理型指数基金增持了 7140 亿美元。这一投资者偏好的 1.2 万亿美元转向，据我所知，是基金行业 90 年历史上最为彻底的逆转。
As to the fund industry in total, it is no understatement to assert that it is in the midst of an investment revolution. Since 2007, U.S. investors have withdrawn a net $517 billion from actively managed U.S. equity funds, while adding $714 billion to their holdings of passively managed index funds. This swing of $1.2 trillion in investor preference is, as far as I know, the most overwhelming turnaround in the industry’s 90-year history.
是的，正如你指出的，投资者需要“理解指数基金的优势和低费用的影响”。我为此已经呼吁了近四十年，看到全世界的投资者（开始）团结起来响应这一理念，实在令人振奋。
Yes, as you point out, investors need “to understand the merits of tracker [i.e., index] funds and the impact of low charges.” I’ve been beating that drum for almost four decades now, and it’s a thrill to see the investors of the world (begin to) unite behind it.
约翰·C·博格尔
美国宾夕法尼亚州福吉谷
John C. Bogle Valley Forge, PA, USA