May 08, 2010

Common Sense On Mutual Funds

Investors still feel battered and bruised from the past few years. So this week, we have some timeless wisdom for your retirement account from the most legendary mutual fund guru in history. Then, are today’s prisons nothing more than monster factories? We talk to an expert who has found that some criminals really can turn their lives around, thanks to some tough love.

Episode Segments:

InfoTrak: Common Sense Investing John C. Bogle, Founder of The Vanguard Group, Inc. and author of Common Sense On Mutual Funds talks about the major challenges investors have faced in the past few years, and how time-tested investment strategies still work in turbulent markets.
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InfoTrak: The Monster Factory In 2008, over 7.3 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole in the US. Attorney Sunny Schwartz, author of Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption and One Woman's Fight to Restore Justice to All believes our traditional prison system is a “monster factory,” where violent offenders are released and quickly end up back in prison. She created an innovative program in San Francisco that forces inmates to hold themselves accountable for their crimes, empowers victims, and teaches criminals compassion.
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InfoTrak: Fighting Flight Delayed The US Department of Transportation is implementing a new rule intended to deal with flight delays of more than 3 hours for passengers waiting in an aircraft. Kate Hanni, executive director of FlyersRights.org, an organization that advocates for airline passengers’ rights explained how serious these long delays can be and why the rule may help. She said that ultimately, the nation’s air transportation system needs a complete overhaul to fix the problem of flight delays.
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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Kate Hanni Kate Hanni was a real estate broker for 17 years. She is also a professional musician in a Motown Band called the Toasted Heads. December 29, 2006 would be the turning point in Kate’s life and career, when thunderstorms diverted her Dallas-bound flight from San Francisco to Austin. Kate and her family were stuck on the tarmac for 9 hours without food, water, or information. Kate turned her anger into advocacy and began the Coalition for an Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights. Kate has appeared in multiple media outlets as the Coalition's spokesperson. Flyersrights.org

Sunny Schwartz Sunny Schwartz is a nationally recognized expert in Criminal Justice reform. She has pioneered new policy initiatives for custody-based and reentry programs, as well as alternatives to incarceration. Ms. Schwartz has worked in criminal justice for over 25 years. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 1985. In 1990 Sheriff Michael Hennessey appointed Ms. Schwartz as the Program Administrator for the San Francisco Sheriff's Department. Ms. Schwartz has directed the design and operation of prisoner programs in the San Francisco county jails. Her persuasive presentations and public interest discussions with federal, state and local legislators increased the San Francisco County Jail's program budget dramatically during her tenure. Her programmatic expertise is bold, diverse and effective as she has changed traditional incarceration and jail operations, categorized by "idle and wasted down time", to require inmates to participate in educational, vocational and therapeutic programs. As a result, more than half of the entire San Francisco jail population participates in programs ranging from substance abuse treatment, violence prevention and victim restoration to academic studies, computer skills, and vocational training. Learn more about Sunny

John C. Bogel ohn C. Bogle, 77, is Founder of The Vanguard Group, Inc., and President of Vanguard's Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He created Vanguard in 1974 and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 1996 and Senior Chairman until 2000. He had been associated with a predecessor company since 1951, immediately following his graduation from Princeton University, magna cum laude in Economics. He is a graduate of Blair Academy, class of 1947. The Vanguard Group is one of the two largest mutual fund organizations in the world. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Vanguard comprises more than 120 mutual funds with current assets totaling $1 trillion. Vanguard 500 Index Fund, the largest fund in the group, was founded by Mr. Bogle in 1975. It was the first index mutual fund. The story of his life and career is told in John Bogle and the Vanguard Experiment: One Man’s Quest to Transform the Mutual Fund Industry, by Robert Slater (1996). In 2004, TIME magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people, and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1999, Fortune designated him as one of the investment industry’s four “Giants of the 20 th Century.” In the same year, he received the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University for “distinguished achievement in the Nation’s service.” In 1997, he was named one of the “Financial Leaders of the 20 th Century” in Leadership in Financial Services (Macmillan Press Ltd., 1997). In 1998, Mr. Bogle was presented the Award for Professional Excellence from the Association for Investment Management and Research, and in 1999 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, Inc. Click Here to read John's Blog