Do actively managed funds beat the market?
The long-term performance data show active management has a lot of catching up to do. Over the past 10 years, less than 7% of U.S. active equity funds have beaten the market, according to the Spiva U.S. scorecard .
Less than 10% of active large-cap fund managers have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 15 years. The biggest drag on investment returns is unavoidable, but you can minimize it if you're smart.
The investment objective of an actively managed mutual fund is to outperform market averages — to earn higher returns by having experts strategically pick investments they think will boost overall performance.
Investors who miss out on active management run the risk of missing out on the potential for outperformance.” Here are a few reasons to consider active management for your portfolio strategy: There are areas where active management can overperform. Some actively managed funds offer lower fees.
| Fund | 2023 performance (%) | 5yr performance (%) |
|---|---|---|
| MS INVF US Growth | 49.29 | 62.08 |
| New Capital US Growth | 48.68 | N/A |
| T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity Fund | 48.64 | 98.92 |
| Baillie Gifford Worldwide US Equity Growth | 46.58 | N/A |
More than half of active funds and ETFs, 57%, outperformed their passive counterparts in the year from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023, an improvement from the 43% that did so the previous year, according to a new report from Morningstar.
Commonly called the S&P 500, it's one of the most popular benchmarks of the overall U.S. stock market performance. Everybody tries to beat it, but few succeed.
Disadvantages of Active Management
Actively managed funds generally have higher fees and are less tax-efficient than passively managed funds. The investor is paying for the sustained efforts of investment advisers who specialize in active investment, and for the potential for higher returns than the markets as a whole.
Here's what the firm found from 20 years of research: Active vs. Passive: The active success rate for equity was 76% overall with actively managed funds surpassing passive funds 73% of the time.
Over the full period, just 2% of actively managed Large-Cap Core funds beat the S&P 500. Even in categories such as small- and mid-sized stocks, and growth — which benefited from the tailwinds of an outperforming universe — a minimum of 81% of actively managed funds underperformed the benchmark.
Why would someone choose an actively managed fund?
Flexibility – because active managers, unlike passive ones, are not required to hold specific stocks or bonds. Hedging – the ability to use short sales, put options, and other strategies to insure against losses. Risk management – the ability to get out of specific holdings or market sectors when risks get too large.
The challenge is that as investors recognize a manager's skill, they place more assets under his management. Those additional assets make it harder for the manager to achieve the same level of performance—among other reasons, because the bigger a fund is, the more likely it is to move prices.
Costs and Fees: Managed funds charge fees for their services, which can eat into your returns over time. It's important to know what you're paying for, and to ensure the fees are worth the potential returns. No Guarantee of Returns: Like all investments, managed funds can lose and gain value.
I put my personal 401(k) and a lot of my mutual fund investing in four types of mutual funds: growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. I personally spread mine in 25% of those four.
Putting Your Money in the S&P 500 Will Make You More Money
Simply putting all of your money into the S&P 500 index ETF, SPY, and forgetting about it will almost always yield higher returns than paying a financial advisor for advice. The S&P 500 beats most financial advisor portfolios most of the time.
| Fund Name | 5 Years Return | 10 Years Return |
|---|---|---|
| Nippon India Growth Fund (G) | 26.0% | 21.4% |
| Kotak Infrastructure & Economic Reform Fund Standard Plan (G) | 24.7% | 21.4% |
| DSP India T I G E R Fund (G) | 25.8% | 20.9% |
| Quant Small Cap Fund (G) | 37.4% | 20.7% |
In most years, only about a third of actively managed funds beat their benchmark indexes, such as the Standard & Poor's 500. And managers who succeed in one year often fail the next, suggesting that many winning results are no more than luck.
Active strategies have tended to benefit investors more in certain investing climates, and passive strategies have tended to outperform in others. For example, when the market is volatile or the economy is weakening, active managers may outperform more often than when it is not.
Mutual funds tend to carry higher expense ratios than ETFs because they require more hands-on management. The average expense ratio for actively managed mutual funds is between 0.5% and 1.0%. They rarely exceed 2.5%. For passive index funds, the typical ratio is about 0.2%.
Although it is very difficult, the market can be beaten. Every year, some managers boast better numbers than the market indices. A small fraction even manages to do so over a longer period. Over the horizon of the last 20 years, less than 10% of U.S. actively managed funds have beaten the market.
Do actively managed funds outperform passively managed funds?
While passive funds still dominate overall due to lower fees, some investors are willing to put up with the higher fees in exchange for the expertise of an active manager to help guide them amid all the volatility or wild market price fluctuations.
$10,000 invested in the S&P 500 at the beginning of 2000 would have grown to $32,527 over 20 years — an average return of 6.07% per year.
Key Takeaways. Active risk arises from actively managed portfolios, such as those of mutual funds or hedge funds, as it seeks to beat its benchmark. Specifically, active risk is the difference between the managed portfolio's return less the benchmark return over some time period.
While it's true that index funds have historically provided solid returns, it's important to remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Blindly putting all of your savings into index funds without considering other investment options or your personal financial goals could be a mistake.
Passive investing tends to perform better
Despite the fact that they put a lot of effort into it, the vast majority of of active fund managers underperform the market benchmark they're trying to beat. Even when actively managed funds do experience a period of outperformance, it doesn't tend to last long.
