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.
The so-called stock-picker’s market is a myth that fund managers use to justify their fees, whatever the market does. Decades of data show that even when conditions should favour active managers, most still underperform. The evidence is clear: simplicity, not stock-picking, wins in the long run.
Robin Powell
Oct 23, 20259 min read
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