Hear Jack Bogle’s Amazing Advice For Boomers Nearing Retirement

When it comes to financial all-stars, there are plenty of big names that come up in conversation, including legendary investor Jack Bogle. The man behind Vanguard ETFs and often cited as the individual responsible for popularizing index funds, he doesn’t need any introduction. 

While the world could go on for days sounding off advice from Jack Bogle, one of his greatest passions was trying to help those nearing retirement feel financially safe. “Bogleheads,” as they are called, are those who Bogle feels have embraced his teachings on how to invest on your own and have money set aside to make retirement great. 

Don’t Take On Excessive Risk

Bogle famously indicated that he believed that having a “good” retirement secured through a solid investing strategy would be better than a “great” retirement that could only be found by risking everything. 

If Bogle were alive today, he would be advising his Bogleheads to shift from an aggressive risk strategy to one that preserves their accumulated wealth. Bogle would caution against chasing higher returns through risky investments for anyone nearing retirement, especially after a period of strong market performance. 

Bogle would often remark that jeopardizing your current financial security wouldn’t be worth trying to find that “great” retirement. Bogle might have suggested that as you near retirement, it would be worth shifting a portfolio from 70% stocks and 30% bonds to one that is closer to 60/40 or even a 50/50 mix. 

Conservative Asset Allocation

Another strong piece of advice Bogle was well-known for was to hold a percentage of bonds roughly equal to your age. Bogle’s thinking was that this was an easy and almost automatic way to reduce your risk over time. As bonds are stable ways to earn income, Bogle would suggest that someone who is turning 65 and about to retire should be holding 65% of their investments in bonds, with the remaining 35% in stocks. 

This strategy offers you a cushion against market volatility while still keeping the door open for long-term growth. 

Keep Your Costs Down

Jack Bogle was never someone to advocate for anything other than low-cost investing. Bogle knew that if you saw high fees from an investment strategy, you should run for the hills. Bogle would strongly urge near-retirees to focus on saving as much money as possible by keeping costs down. It’s for this reason that investing in Bogle’s own concept of low-cost index funds or ETFs with an expense ratio below 0.10% would be the best path forward. 

Think of it this way: if you are invested for over 20 years, a $500,000 portfolio with a 1% expense ratio is losing approximately $100,000 in fees, assuming a safe 6% return. On the other hand, if you have a 0.10% expense ratio, your fees are only $12,000, a massive difference, especially for those who are about to lose their income as they move into retirement. 

Stay the Course

If you had to give a near retiree just one piece of Bogle advice, it would be his most famous, which is to stay the course. Bogle was an advocate over the decades of choosing a long-term investment plan and sticking with it, even through market volatility. 

Bogle knew what others have to learn in that you can’t time the market, and trying to buy or sell based on trends is a quick way to lose. 

What Bogle would say to a near retiree is that even if you are tempted to sell all of your stocks during a market downturn, like the one in April 2025, don’t do anything. The market will recover, and using this real-world example, the market is now hitting highs daily in the middle of September 2025. 

Understand Different Types of Risk

One final piece of Jack Bogle’s advice would be to remember that while he often focused on reducing risk, he would also tell you that you can’t be too conservative either. 

Bogle would advise against holding too much cash or relying solely on low-yield investment strategies, as these might harm you in the long run due to inflation. Holding a lot of cash might sound good, at least on paper, but as your purchasing power is lost, you end up worse than before. 

With inflation approaching 3% annually, having a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds helps you defend against inflation risks and market volatility alike, and this is exactly what boomers need to ensure stability in their retirement.