BLOG

In a new experiment, 3,700 people chose between two index funds tracking the same index. One of them paid more in every possible outcome. When a chatbot was told to promote the worse fund, the share of people getting the choice right fell from 64 per cent to 34 per cent. Telling them the bank had money riding on their answer made no difference at all. A survey of 836 UK retail investors, published in July by Opinium, found that 54 per cent had already used AI to look up inves

Fifty years ago this week, the first index fund for ordinary investors went on sale and almost nobody bought it. The company behind it had been named two years earlier after a ship in a picture on its founder's wall. The story Vanguard tells about its own beginnings is tidier than what actually happened, and less useful.

On 14 July 2026 the FCA proposed the biggest overhaul of UK asset management regulation since the rules were inherited from the EU: a single remuneration code, a new fund-reporting framework and higher size thresholds, worth an estimated £128 million a year to firms. The industry welcomed it within hours. What the reforms mean for ordinary investors, and whether the savings ever reach them, is the debate that has barely begun.

Terry Smith built Fundsmith on a simple discipline: buy good companies and do nothing. Now, five years into trailing the market, he is turning over half his portfolio and paying more attention to momentum. The strategy that made his name is changing. The fee that came with it is not.

New Morningstar research reveals the link between fund fees and performance has strengthened dramatically. A decade ago, some expensive funds generated enough alpha to partially justify their costs. Today, fees explain almost everything. The skill component has essentially vanished.