Tim Buckley: There’s No One Even Close to Us

<p>Our guest in this special bonus episode of <em>The Long View</em> podcast is Tim Buckley, chairman and CEO of the Vanguard Group, which manages over $5 trillion in assets globally. Tim took the helm at Vanguard in January 2018, succeeding Bill McNabb. Tim is a longtime Vanguard veteran, having joined the firm in 1991. Before assuming his current role, he served as Vanguard’s chief investment officer, head of its retail investor group, as well as its chief information officer.<br /> <br /> In this mini episode, which was recorded live at the 31st annual Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago, we discuss the significance of Vanguard's recent Morningstar Award for Investing Excellence, which the firm received for exemplary stewardship. Tim also addressed how Vanguard attempts to balance growth with delivering good outcomes to clients, its capital allocation philosophy and key initiatives, the future of advice, the trend toward "free" funds, as well as the firm's recent forays into sustainable investing, among other topics.</p> <p><strong>Show Notes<br /> </strong>“It’s the core of Vanguard”: What stewardship and investor-centricity has meant to the firm (0:28-1:20)<br /> <br /> Defining “client”: How Vanguard balances off the objectives of its different lines of business (1:21-2:51)<br /> <br /> Incredible scale can’t be taken for granted: Is it enough to just be a fund company? (2:52-4:15)<br /> <br /> Gazing into our crystal ball: What Vanguard looks like in 10 years and how that compares to today (4:16-5:30)<br /> <br /> Goal-setting: How Vanguard defines success and how that informs the way they run the business (5:31-6:40)<br /> <br /> The future of advice: “I can’t imagine anything but the price (for advice) coming down” (6:41-7:24)<br /> <br /> Embrace technology and personalize: Tim’s counsel to advisors who are trying to adapt to falling advice fees (7:25-8:43)<br /> <br /> “There’s no one even close to us”: What matters in a “freemium” world is the cost of the whole portfolio (8:44-10:12)<br /> <b