Contrarian: Why 'active vs passive' is a false distinction

Confusing the investor

Everyone loves a good battle - and it is even better if it has an ideological edge to it, writes David Stevenson.

The passive brigade self-righteously criticise the active contingent for overcharging and under-delivering, while our active friends will sometimes counter-charge that passive funds are taking huge risks with investors' money by buying lots of the wrong kinds of risky stocks and bonds. Smart beta: Investors struggle to navigate plethora of launches But maybe we all need to step back from these battle-hardened positions and accept that everything is not quite as black and white as we first imagined, and that this dispute has the unfortunate net effect of confusing the poor old end inves...