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.
Buying put options to insure a portfolio against a market crash feels like the prudent thing to do. But new research covering more than two centuries of market history finds that portfolio insurance loses money over time — and that it fails in exactly the slow, grinding bear markets that do investors the most harm. People insure almost everything they value. Homes, cars, phones, even pets: paying a modest premium to guard against a loss you would rather not face is one of the
Robin Powell
7 hours ago7 min read
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