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Jerry O'Reilly

Jerry O'Reilly

Principal portfolio manager of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund for 32 years and former Irish Olympic middle-distance runner.

Jul 31, 2026

4:55
I mean, how key is being on your feet at the trading desk every day? I mean, is that basically where all the action happens?
5:03
it is i mean it you know i would say it's first of all it is not a one-man operation i have incredibly talented team around me um both other traders uh who back me up and also you know peer groups for example you know we have a team that comes in consuela first thing in the morning they're in it before seven o'clock and making sure that all the benchmarks that we track that they are perfectly where they need to be, that all the corporate actions have been adjusted, all the splits are done, so that when I come in and I start looking at my portfolio, I know I'm comparing it to the gold standard benchmark.
5:37
And that's a lot of work.
5:38
You have some of these benchmarks that have 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 different names.
5:43
So those are the people that kind of set it up for me when I come in in the morning.
5:47
And then I have middle office folks, I've got data folks, I've got a whole bunch of people that are helping me do my job.
5:55
But I would say, The camaraderie and the interaction that we have on the desk is really kind of where the rubber hits the road.
7:02
How much simpler was it in 1992 or 1994 when the fund was a lot smaller than it is now? How has the environment evolved? How has the managing it evolved? When I

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