Mr B and Mr J both start similar service industry companies, but they do so under dramatically different business models. Mr B's is designed to make his customers owners. Mr J's is designed to maximize profits for his family. Decades later, Mr J has a net worth of 300 times that of Mr B, despite the fact that Mr B has build the larger company as more and more people realize that he saves them money.
Substitute Jack Bogle (Vanguard, personal net worth around $30 million) and Ed Johnson (Fidelity, personal net worth over $9 billion) for Mr B and Mr J, and you'll see the reason many of us favor Vanguard.
Having said that, since Vanguard moved past Fidelity in assets under management several years ago, Fidelity has dropped many of its fees dramatically, making some funds roughly equivalent to Vanguard. Even if you go with Fidelity though, realize that if you invest $17,500/year in a retirement account for 25 years, Jack Bogle will have saved you over $500,000 (versus what you would have paid 20 years ago when total fees were over 1% higher) by forcing every mutual fund company's expenses lower to compete with Vanguard. I think that deserves at least a Christmas card.
