A Mutual Fund Master, Too Worried to Rest

Head of Vanguard and legendary mutual fund manager John Bogle, sat down with the NYT to discuss all issues related to the current investment scene, fiscal cliff, and why he still believes in his strategies.

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• “It’s urgent that people wake up,” he says. Why? This is the worst time for investors that he has ever seen — and after more than 60 years in the business, that’s saying a lot.
• “The economy has clouds hovering over it,” Mr. Bogle says. “And the financial system has been damaged. The risk of a black-swan event — of something unlikely but apocalyptic — is small, but it’s real.”
• “We’ve really got no choice. We’ve got to fix this system. All of us, as individuals, need to do it.” That’s the message of his latest and 11th book, “The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation” (Wiley & Sons, $29.95). It offers a scathing critique of the financial services industry and updated guidance for investors. “A culture of short-term speculation has run rampant,” he writes, “superseding the culture of long-term investment that was dominant earlier in the post-World War II era.”