Vanguard founder Jack Bogle was famous for making investing accessible to the everyday person through index funds – funds that match a market barometer like the S&P 500. His message was simple: why waste money on expensive fees and commissions for complex funds when market barometers often outperform them? That message remained remarkably consistent throughout his career.

Jack Bogle needed hefty amounts of brainpower and market know-how to put together the first index fund. But for investors wanting to cash in on his idea, it's become pretty easy.

In 1975, the founder of Vanguard Group, who died Wednesday, was able to turn a long-held belief into reality, namely that it was far more profitable to follow the market than fight it. Most mutual fund managers who picked stocks couldn't keep up with basic benchmarks like the S&P 500, much less beat them, he found.

So he turned his thoughts into action, putting together the first fund that simply followed the S&P 500, minus a small management cost that was much cheaper than the active funds of the day.

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Vanguard Founder Jack Bogle's 90s Interview Shows His Investing Philosophy