John Bogle Slams Mark Cuban Over Buy-and-Hold Comments

John Bogle responded to controversial comments made recently by Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban recently told The Wall Street Journal that “diversification is for idiots” and “buy and hold is a crock of s**t.”

In an interview on Friday with The Journal’s Jason Zweig, Bogle (left), who is considered by many to be the father of the indexed mutual fund, responded strongly to Cuban’s comments, noting “the math has been proven over and over again. It’s not just the first thing an investor should think about, but the second, the third and probably the fourth and fifth thing investors should think about.”

Bogle used a gambling analogy, noting an investor might hit the jackpot in Las Vegas, and think betting on short odds is for idiots and only smart people bet on long odds.  

“Long odds don’t pay-off very often,” he explained. “Clearly they did for Mark Cuban and more power to him, he can do it his way. But for the average investor who should not spend his life obsessed with investing, he should get a nice simple strategy [that includes] diversification not only by asset class, but by the number of stocks and bonds in each class, even a thousand if necessary. What do you get for that? You will guarantee you will get your fair share of whatever returns the bond market and stock market are generous enough to provide to us.”