CHAPTER 1
WORLD’S FIRST INDEX FUND
Never trust the experts.
—John F. Kennedy
INDEX FUNDS ARE WELL KNOWN today. Many think John McQuown and Bill Fouse at Wells Fargo (which became Barclays Global Investors) started the first index fund in 1971 when they invested in every New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock for the Samsonite pension fund. However, that is not correct. Let me tell you how it really happened.1
I discovered the real first index fund during a chance meeting I had while working at Smith Barney & Co. in 1976. At that time Smith Barney was a prestigious investment banking and institutional brokerage firm similar to Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers, and First Boston. Along with the rest of the Street at that time, Smith Barney ...
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