John “Mac” McQuown: The Man Behind the First Index Fund Ever Created

Real Vision Essential ·
Featuring Mac McQuown and Robin Wigglesworth

Published on: January 28th, 2022 • Duration: 56 minutes

There’s already $20 trillion invested in index funds today, and annual inflows surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in 2021. Passive investing disrupted the industry decades ago, and it remains the go-to strategy for most investors. One of the innovators who spearheaded the creation of index funds, John “Mac” McQuown, tells Robin Wigglesworth the story of how it all began. McQuown walks Wigglesworth, global finance correspondent at the Financial Times and the author of “Trillions: How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented the Index Fund,” through the history of data analytics in finance, what role it played in the early days of portfolio construction and performance, and the legendary team he worked with to make index funds a reality, including Nobel Prize winners Harry Markowitz and Eugene Fama as well as the founder of Vanguard Group, Jack Bogle. McQuown shares his thoughts on passive investing today and where the industry is headed. Recorded on January 20, 2022.