This year, John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard and the inventor of the first index fund nearly 40 years ago, said he was “dubious about the value of the ETFs for long-term investors” and that “traders and brokers are the only winners of short-term trading”.

I, of course, have a lot of respect for John Bogle, but I do not agree with his views, published in the Financial Times, on exchange-traded funds listed in the US. ETFs are democratic products that offer many benefits to retail investors, financial advisers and institutional investors.