Only a third of active equity funds outperformed passives in 2021

AJ Bell's latest ‘Manager versus Machine’ report

Only a third of active equity funds (34%) beat a passive alternative this year, according to a new report from AJ Bell.

The company's latest ‘Manager versus Machine' report analysed about 800 retail funds, finding that active funds performed particularly poorly in the US, Global, and Asia Pacific regions. The report also notes that while longer term figures suggest active management have beaten the passive funds across most regions, this in not the case in the US and Global sectors. "The fact that over 10 years only 56% of active funds have beaten a passive alternative, despite a tailwind from survivorship bias, demonstrates that investors need to be picky when it comes to buying active funds, and perh...