You are not signed in. Sign in.

List Books: Buy books on ListBooks.org

Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life »

Book cover image of Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life by John C. Bogle

Authors: John C. Bogle
ISBN-13: 9780470398517, ISBN-10: 0470398515
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Date Published: November 2008
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Find Best Prices for This Book »

Author Biography: John C. Bogle

John C. Bogle is founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group and President of its Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He created Vanguard in 1974 and served as chairman and chief executive officer until 1996 and senior chairman until 2000. In 1999, Fortune magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the four "Investment Giants" of the twentieth century; in 2004, Time named him one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people; and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Book Synopsis

We live during a time where there seems to be no limit to what "enough" entails. CEOs—even those of failing corporations—pull down huge paychecks and hedge fund managers can enjoy billion-dollar paydays. These excesses are only the most obvious examples of the gross excesses that have overwhelmed our financial system, precipitating the crisis we now face.

These excesses extend far beyond the financial markets. Not knowing what is "enough" also undermines our business and professional values, and often leads us astray when attempting to make important personal decisions about our investments and indeed about our own lives.

Throughout his legendary career, John C. Bogle—founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group and creator of the first index mutual fund—has helped investors build wealth the right way and led a tireless campaign to restore common sense to the investment world. Along the way, he's seen how destructive an obsession with financial success can be. Now, with Enough., he puts this dilemma in perspective.

Inspired in large measure by the hundreds of lectures Bogle has delivered to professional groups and college students in recent years, Enough. seeks, paraphrasing Kurt Vonnegut, "to poison our minds with a little humanity." Bogle considers what "enough" actually means as it relates to money, business, and life. The world of finance, he argues, is marked by too much cost, and not enough value; too much speculation, and not enough investment; too much complexity, and not enough simplicity. Similarly, our business world is focused too much on counting and salesmanship, and not enough on trust and stewardship; and our society at large is too obsessed with charisma and wealth, and not enough with character and wisdom.

Bogle also considers what "enough" means for him personally, and offers his thoughts on how—in a world increasingly focused on status and score-keeping—you can find your way and take comfort in the knowledge that you can indeed have "enough."

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Enough. inspires and enlightens in equal measure. Bogle offers his unparalleled insights on money, on the values we should emulate in our business and professional callings, and on what we should consider as the true treasures in our lives. Discover what it really means to have "enough" and you'll quickly realize how close you are to having it.

Table of Contents

Foreword by William Jefferson Clinton.

Prologue by Tom Peters.

Author's Note: A Crisis of Ethic Proportions.

Introduction.

MONEY.

Chapter 1 Too Much Cost, Not Enough Value.

Chapter 2 Too Much Speculation, Not Enough Investment.

Chapter 3 Too Much Complexity, Not Enough Simplicity.

BUSINESS.

Chapter 4 Too Much Counting, Not Enough Trust.

Chapter 5 Too Much Business Conduct, Not Enough Professional Conduct.

Chapter 6 Too Much Salesmanship, Not Enough Stewardship.

Chapter 7 Too Much Management, Not Enough Leadership.

LIFE.

Chapter 8 Too Much Focus on Things, Not Enough Focus on Commitment.

Chapter 9 Too Many Twenty-First-Century Values, Not Enough Eighteenth-Century Values.

Chapter 10 Too Much “Success,” Not Enough Character.

WRAPPING UP: WHAT'S ENOUGH?

What's Enough for Me? For You? For America?

Afterword: A Personal Note About My Career.

Acknowledgments.

Notes.

Index.

Subjects