The managers running the biggest active funds picked stocks that beat the market in 2025 — and most still lagged their benchmark. A Morningstar do-nothing experiment and a body of academic research explain why active funds underperform even when the picking is good: skilled buying undone by poor selling, the hidden cost of trading, and the incentives that keep managers churning. The UK evidence points the same way.
Investors are turning to AI hoping it will cut through the emotional noise and deliver clearer, more rational financial decisions. But two recent studies suggest these tools don't neutralise investor biases — they absorb them. And the more advanced the model, the worse the problem may get.
Robin Powell
Mar 107 min read
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