Wellington Management fired Jack Bogle in 1974 after a 1966 merger he had pushed for went sour. He then founded Vanguard, a company owned by the funds it oversees, so savings from its size go back to fund shareholders. A post-breakup rule barred Bogle from managing client money directly. An index fund needed no stock picker, so he launched one tracking the Standard & Poor's 500. Its 1976 offering raised only $11.3 million of a $150 million goal, a 93% shortfall. Critics called it "Bogle's Folly," but he refused to cancel. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has risen 243.79% in price over the past decade and 56.84% over five years, excluding dividends. The fund turned 50 this summer, and indexing now sits in millions of 401(k) and IRA accounts.

Vanguard has launched the Vanguard USD High Yield Corporate Bond Fund, an actively managed fund that invests in high-yield corporate bonds issued in US dollars, mainly by US companies. The fund aims to beat its benchmark, the Bloomberg US High Yield 2% Issuer Cap Index. It is domiciled in Ireland and run by Vanguard's Fixed Income Group. It offers accumulating and distributing share classes in US dollars, with ongoing charges of 0.25%. The fund can also invest in opportunities outside the benchmark, such as leveraged loans. "Investors are looking for fixed income solutions that help them generate income without significantly adding complexity to their portfolios," said Claire Aley, Vanguard's head of product and PRD for Europe. "This fund offers access to an established part of the bond market through a simple active approach at a very competitive cost.

A $500,000 position in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) puts $40,400 into NVIDIA alone, as the chipmaker made up 8.08% of the fund on August 31, 2026. The fund's top 10 holdings account for 37.78%, or $188,900. The S&P 500 weights companies by market value, so NVIDIA's growth lifted its share automatically. Its stock rose 1,005.49% over five years to October 9, 2026, while VOO rose 90.68%. Concentration brings swings. A 2% weekly drop in NVIDIA on that slice costs about $808, roughly five years of VOO's $150 annual fee at 0.03%. Investors who also hold NVIDIA shares or a tech fund may face higher exposure than the fund's weight suggests.