Alert – This link is only for those of you who like the backstage, technical stuff.

Cliff Asness recently wrote a piece for Bloomberg called Indexing Is Capitalism at Its Best and we tend to agree. This column is in response to an active manager’s “research” report warning of the dangers of too much money moving to index, passive, and evidence-based strategies. Please make sure to read the footnotes, as they are every bit as relevant as the main content.

David Booth and Rex Sinquefield brought academic research to life in 1981 as true believers in investing based on facts over hunches. This recent article outlines the journey of transforming three decades of academic research and more than 60 years of data into the birthplace of evidence-based investing. Congratulations to David Booth for being recognized by Institutional Investor with a lifetime achievement award!

Click here to read the article.

Jack Bogle is a hero in our world. He launched the Vanguard 500 Index fund forty years ago in 1976. The initial reception was unimpressive, raising only $11 million, which was far short of the $150 million target. Critics called the index fund “un-American” and boring when compared to the active funds that were heavily advertised.

The S&P 500 Index fund gathered assets slowly in the beginning, but now is the second largest mutual fund in the world, with assets of over $255 billion. The total assets in all index and exchanged-traded funds is now $5 trillion. Investors have seen the evidence and are voting with their dollars. Happy Birthday Index Funds!

To read the full article please click here.