Tim Buckley led meteoric growth at Vanguard, knew when to say 'no'

Comments

• Mitchelg

  March 11

  Another Tim Buckley has the best rendition of the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
• equalizer

  March 12

  Mitchelg said:

  Another Tim Buckley has the best rendition of the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

  Do you mean his son Jeff Buckley?
  Both were incredible artists with their haunting prose.
  
  “Last Goodbye” is so tragic.
  
  
  
  
• sma3

  March 12

  while AUM are up customer service etc is in the toilet .I think he was pushed out
• Shostakovich

  March 12

  I'll second what @sma3 said -- I hate dealing with Vanguard. I have actively invested elsewhere because I don't want to deal with their nonsense. Their argument is that "they're saving shareholders money...". Honestly you can add that extra .0015 points to the ER and actually give me the service I need and mail me a statement once in a while.
  
  Separate point -- they use sampling in their indexing, which I'm sure could set us up for a index bubble (but I should think through that statement a bit more before....the explosion of index funds does seem worrying, however).
• sma3

  March 12

  As they refuse to allow fund owners to vote for anything involved in company management, like the Board or policies etc and refuse to publish employees salaries and incentive plans ( higher paid employees seem to earn some kinds restricted stock ) the statement "you own Vanguard because the funds own Vanguard and you own the funds" is nonsense.
  
  At least at Schwab you know what you get. Even Fidelity is more transparent
• sfnative

  March 13

  Every Vanguard CEO since Bogle is pretty much riding his coattails. Any "added value" is around the margins. Personally I was compelled to move all the assets I could out of my Vanguard accounts -- they landed at Schwab, where I used to work -- because I got fed up with everything about Vanguard except how they run their funds. As a brokerage they leave much to be desired.
• Observant1

  March 14 edited March 14

  Vanguard refuses to carry bitcoin ETFs.
  Previously, they refused to offer internet funds or 130/30 funds.
  I believe these were sensible decisions that were in the best interests of Vanguard "owners".
  
  Vanguard does not disclose much information regarding executive compensation.
  They are not legally obligated to do so.
  This tendency for ambiguity about compensation is certainly not in the best interests of Vanguard "owners".
• Observant1

  March 14 edited March 14

  There have been many complaints regarding Vanguard customer service and technical glitches over the years.
  Tim Buckley was Vanguard's Chief Information Officer from 2001 to 2006.
  Mr. Buckley should therefore be well-versed in technology.
  In 2019, he stated the company was spending more than a billion dollars on technology.
  Was this technology funding well spent?
• yogibearbull

  March 14 edited March 14

  So far, people who started as Bogle's personal assistants have eventually landed at the top.
  
  At 55 and only 6 years at the top, did Tim Buckley quit or was pushed out? He may have perfected the race to the bottom ER at the expense of everything else and possibly damaging the Vanguard brand. If Vanguard wants to move forward in advisory business again (it ditched its old advisory business for the robo-advisors/PAS), it had to change the horse. We may have to wait for juicy details of the drama.
  
  MY IRAs remain at Vanguard, but other accounts are elsewhere.
• fundly

  March 14

  I moved my Vanguard 6 figure brokerage account to E-Trade last year after a 40 year Vanguard accounts run because of all the issues previously mentioned. What really bothered me was the new
  yearly fee to get written mailed statements. Vanguard also every time I logged in ,wanted me to change to electronic only access which would not work for us. This is not a recommendation ,but we have an assigned E- Trade advisor who manages any issues in our self directed "Platinum" account and all mutual fund trades are NTF. No fees at all. I have Admiral funds at Firstrade that I do not trade. What is not to like?
• equalizer

  March 14

  Fundly,
  
  Do you have access to MRFOX and other funds that have TF at Schwab or Fidelity?
• fundly

  March 15

  @equalizer. I did check on MRFOX and it is available with a 10K minimum opening then $100 for subsequent trades. All MF trades at Firstrade are NTF. To check on other funds the only precise way is to open an account and put in a test trade which will tell you if it the fund is available and the minimums which for the majority is way under 10k. Good luck.
• BaluBalu

  March 15 edited March 15

  equalizer said:

  Fundly,
  
  Do you have access to MRFOX and other funds that have TF at Schwab or Fidelity?

  When did Fido start offering MRFOX? It didn’t a month ago
  
  @fundly,
  
  I am presuming the availability of MRFOX in your response is in First Trade and not Etrade. Pl confirm. I should check if it is also available at Merrill.
  
• fundly

  March 15

  @Balu. Yes Firstrade
• msf

  March 15

  fundly said:

  at Firstrade ... To check on other funds the only precise way is to open an account and put in a test trade which will tell you if it the fund is available and the minimums which for the majority is way under 10k.

  I still have a login there many years after closing an account. I have assumed that the fund information I see after logging in (min, open/closed, etc.) is accurate. (I cannot trade in a closed account.)
  
  Have you run across a fund where the test trade showed something different than the info provided on the trade page? Or are you just being extra careful by doing test trades?
  
• fundly

  March 15

  @msf. To clarify. Hopefully this answers your question. On the MF trade page I put in the ticker and a dollar amt usually $1. This now tells me if the fund is available and minimums initially and subsequently. This is a quasi test trade to get the above info. If I wish to buy then I change the amount to purchase and buy it. The data never changes on availability or minimums. I do not use the M* info or the freely available non in account Firstrade MF info ,because it may be inaccurate.
• msf

  March 15

  Thanks. To clarify further, the trading page I use (one must be logged in) is:
  https://invest.firstrade.com/cgi-bin/main#/cgi-bin/mf_order
  
  As soon as I enter a ticker I see info for the particular fund (min, subsequent, and open/closed). I could enter $1, though the fund info is already there and doesn't change when a dollar amount is entered. I thought you might be pressing the "preview" button to test the trade. That's the one step I can't do because You do not have permission to trade in this account
  
  It sounds like we're doing the same thing (or close enough).
• fundly

  March 16

  @msf. Yes just entering the ticker without an amount also gives you the above info on that page. I just got in the habit of entering $1 but this is not necessary as you noted ,to get the availability/minimums info. I only "preview" with the correct purchase amount with a definite buy planned.
• equalizer

  March 16 edited March 16

  fundly said:

  @Balu. Yes Firstrade

  I thought you were talking about E*trade because you said “self directed "Platinum" account and all mutual fund trades are NTF. No fees at all.”
  
  
• Mona

  March 19

  Vanguard raises eyebrows in search for new CEO
  
  “Vanguard is an insular place and a tightly run organization,” said Charles Elson, a corporate-governance scholar who teaches a mergers course at University of Pennsylvania’s law school.
  
  Vanguard’s board, led by CEO Buckley, seems designed to nurture consensus rather than chart bold new courses, Elson says. It includes academics and retired senior managers from a range of companies, but no current or former public company CEOs. (By contrast, Vanguard’s competitor BlackRock’s board includes Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, Cisco chief executive Chuck Robbins, and Estee Lauder CEO Fabrizio Freda, among other top corporate bosses.)
  
  ”Their board is self-perpetuating and insulated from challenges. Up until now at least, they haven’t thought they needed a change,” Elson said. “If you are happy with the way things are going, you won’t change. Only if they have a radical cultural problem do you go outside for change agents.”
  
  https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/vanguard-raises-eyebrows-in-search-for-new-ceo/ar-BB1k8hrp?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=06a051a95df546938c3e039d23746503&ei=31
  
• Observant1

  March 20 edited March 20

  Thanks, Mona!
  It's interesting that Vanguard is considering external candidates for the CEO position.
  Perhaps they're seeking transformational change in order to maintain or improve
  their standing in the ultracompetitive asset management industry?
  
  "Vanguard’s next leader should be 'someone who can fix their technology,'said Dan Wiener,
  a New York asset manager and cofounder of the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors newsletter."
  
  “'They need to fix their tech and service,' concurs the newsletter’s publisher and Wiener’s longtime chief of research, Jeff DeMaso, citing investor complaints."
  
  Messrs. Wiener and DeMaso have disclosed Vanguard's tech and customer service deficiences for years. Maybe, just maybe, Vanguard will ameliorate these issues someday!