Articles for Financial Advisors

Indexing Vs. Active Management

Indexing Vs. Active Management

Although it is difficult to predict the likelihood that actively managed mutual funds will outperform their benchmark index over any 12-36 month period, there is a high level of predictability that index investing will outperform actively managed funds when looking at any given 5-year period—as shown in the table below.

 

% of Actively Managed Funds Outperforming Their Index

Category

Comparable Index

6/2006—6/2011

6/2001—6/2006

LC Growth

S&P 500 Growth

20%

46%

LC Core

S&P 500

37%

30%

LC Value

S&P 500 Value

65%

13%

MC Growth

S&P MidCap 400

12%

5%

MC Core

S&P MidCap 400

16%

18%

MC Value

S&P MidCap 400 Value

33%

21%

SC Growth

S&P SmallCap 600 Growth

25%

6%

SC Core

S&P SmallCap 600

41%

19%

SC Value

S&P SmallCap 600 Value

52%

41%

What is often not included in the discussion of active vs. passive fund management is what happens during market downturns. The next table shows two recent extreme bear markets, the 2008 meltdown and the 2000-2002 bear market (the only time the market has had three negative years in a row). As can be seen from the table, the numbers are not encouraging for those favoring actively managed funds, even during a bear market.

 

Bear Markets: % of Active Funds Outperforming Their Index

Mutual Fund Category

2008

2000-2002

LC Growth

10%

51%

LC Core

48%

47%

LC Value

78%

64%

MC Growth

11%

16%

MC Core

38%

30%

MC Value

33%

17%

SC Growth

5%

12%

SC Core

18%

29%

SC Value

27%

42%

All Large Cap Mutual Funds

46%

46%

All Mid Cap Mutual Funds

25%

23%

All Small Cap Mutual Funds

16%

28%

 

Using Screening Tools to Select Actively Managed Funds

Another consideration often ignored in the debate over active vs. passive fund management is that seasoned advisors may be using a screening process limiting their universe of possible active fund investing candidates that would only include top-quartile or top-half funds. Those that make the cut would then be further screened by looking at things such as investment philosophy, fees, downside risk, Sharpe ratio, etc. Unfortunately, such an extended review process is unlikely to help—studies consistently show that the chances of selecting a top-quartile fund for the future by using historical data is similar or less than random (meaning a coin toss is likely to result in a better selection process).
 
There is consistency in historical performance, but in the wrong quartile. Mutual funds that have delivered bottom-quartile performance in the previous 3-5 years have a high chance of being merged or liquidated. Survivorship bias for mutual fund return figures is a big consideration. Over any 3-year period, 10-20% of mutual funds disappear; over some 5-year periods, the number can be over 25%.

The Exceptions

 

There are two areas where actively managed mutual funds generally look better than index investing: [1] when return figures are based on asset weighting (and not when each fund in a category is given the same weight as another—which is what usually happens when indexes are compared to active funds), and [2] when foreign small cap and emerging market debt funds are compared to their benchmarks.
 

Index Funds vs. Actively Managed Funds with Asset Weighting

 
For example, it can be argued that it is much more likely that an investor will go into a huge, well-known fund than a fund that has substantially less assets under management. When using asset-weighted funds (e.g., $1 billion fund is given 10x the weight of a $100 fund in the same category), the typical small cap fund increases its average return from 4.3% to 5.0% annualized over a 5-year period (ending 8/24/2011), beating the S&P SmallCap 600 Index that averaged 4.6% a year over the same period (note: the index does not include any expense ratio, trading costs, or other fees incurred by all mutual funds).
 

Foreign Small Cap and Emerging Market Debt Funds

 
Looking at all foreign small cap and emerging market debt funds (not using asset weighting), 76% of foreign small cap funds and 67% of emerging market debt funds outperformed their benchmarks over the 5-year period ending August, 24, 2011.

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