Last Wednesday (Jan. 16), legendary investor Jack Bogle passed away at the age of 89.
The founder of Vanguard Funds, Bogle was a titan of the investing world, generating tremendous amounts of wealth for both himself and his clients over his 50-year career.
In fact, Bogle's Vanguard fund went from having zero dollars under management in 1976 to a staggering $4.9 trillion in managed funds by the end of his tenure at the company in 1999.
One reason for Bogle's success was his simple set of principles he rigorously followed.
In order to help Money Morning readers invest like Jack Bogle, we're taking a close look at three of Bogle's key investment principles.
Deceptively simple and incredibly effective, these three principles will help you take control of your financial fate - and leave Wall Street in the dust.
And the best part is, you don't need to invest passively in an index fund to follow Bogle's principles.
You can actually amplify your returns by applying his advice to your own portfolio. Here's how...
Bogle Investing Tip, No. 3: Beware of "Experts"
Speaking in 2017, Bogle told CNBC, "Unless you need a financial adviser to help you get started, you probably don't need a financial adviser at all."
Bogle believed that investors would do well to draw their own conclusions about the market rather than trust mainstream advice.
This was one of the first ideas when building his investment philosophy.
In 1951, while an undergraduate at Princeton, Bogle conducted a study in which he found that actively managed mutual funds failed to outperform broad stock market indexes.
In other words, Wall Street's biggest investment firms couldn't beat unmanaged investment portfolios.
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And after counting in the sky-high fees that these firms charge, Bogle found that investors placing their money in the hands of Wall Street's "experts" were normally walking away with a loss.
As a result, Bogle knew that taking Wall Street's advice could often result in empty pockets.
And he turned out to be right time and time again.
Throughout the course of his investing career, experts were often wrong - they missed the housing crisis, the dot-com bubble, and the crash of '87. And they burned their clients in the process.
However, while steering clear of Wall Street's advice is a key part of growing your wealth like Bogle, you also have to make sure you don't also make the same mistakes as the "experts"...
Bogle Investing Tip, No. 2: Stay the Course
According to Bogle, "Wise investors won't try to outsmart the market."
In other words, savvy investors should hold on to a good stock no matter what happens to the market.
You see, Bogle understood that it's time, not timing, that's the investor's best friend.
Bogle often liked to illustrate this fact with the humble dollar.
Imagine an investor put just one dollar in the S&P 500 in 1970 and let it sit for 45 years.
This dollar would ride out the recessions, bubbles, and investment fads that have defined the market since the 1970s.
By the time the investor cashed out, that one-dollar investment would now be worth $97 - a gain of 9,600% on the initial investment.
These kinds of returns show why Bogle made leaving money in the market for as long as possible a vital part of his investment strategy.
However, Bogle's key principle for ensuring that he wouldn't leave the market at the wrong time was even more important to growing his wealth - and yours...
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Bogle Investing Tip, No. 1: Don't Get Emotional
Bogle believed that in order to be successful, you need to "eliminate emotions from your investment program."
You see, Wall Street and mainstream investors often break Bogle's rules because they let their emotions dictate their strategy for growing wealth.
Many investors let doubt creep into their portfolio and cash out at the wrong time.
Or, lacking conviction in their investments, they end up following the herd - a strategy that almost always results in losses.
According to Bogle, it's always better for investors to "have rational exceptions for future returns and avoid changing those expectations in response to the ephemeral noise coming from Wall Street."
In other words, stay coolheaded and avoid the fray. Your portfolio will thank you.
Now, Bogle typically used his investment principles to manage index funds.
But you can amp up your returns by following his principles and investing in individual stocks.
Unfortunately, it's incredibly difficult to identify the kind of stocks that deserve Bogle's disciplined investing approach.
That is, unless you know where to look...
The Hidden Key to an Undefeated Track Record
In this must-see footage, one man is revealing the key to exactly how he's closed out 32 winning trade recommendations IN A ROW...
... how he averages a 70% profit on each of his closed trade recommendations...
... and most importantly, how you could NEVER have to lose money on a stock again - and become filthy rich in the process.