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.
Two leading economists argue that personal finance is broken at a structural level — and the UK government's response of deregulation and a cartoon squirrel won't fix it.
Robin Powell
Feb 209 min read
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