Don’t fork out for active managers, says David Swenson

Paying a fund manager to ‘actively’ manage your money is a big mistake, says finance pioneer David Swenson.

If you are paying a fund manager to actively' manage your money you are making a big mistake, says finance pioneer David Swenson.

The 58-year-old made a name for himself as one of the first major investors to use alternative assets, such as private equity and real estate, to beat the market. As head of Yale University's $20bn investment fund, he is one of America's most prominent fund managers, yet he is not averse to speaking out against the financial establishment.

"There are two sensible approaches to investing - either 100% active or 100% passive", says Swenson. And unless you are getting advice from "incredibly high-qualified professionals", you "should be 100% passive" ie invested in funds that just track the market.

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Swenson's warning isn't just for retail investors. He thinks most institutional investors can't beat the market either. Speaking at a Bloomberg conference on index investing, he said that most active funds care more about fleecing customers than posting the best returns.

He singled out hedge funds, which are used by wealthy individuals or institutions, saying their fees were a "huge issue". "If you're going to engage in the game where you're charging enormous fees, you have to be in the top 5% to 10% to win on a risk-adjusted basis." Swenson himself is in this percentile, having returned 14% a year over the past two decades.

Swenson also used the conference to take a swipe at the growing practice of high-frequency trading, whereby traders use complex algorithms and computer program to gain an advantage in the market. "I've always viewed high-frequency trading as a tax on the rest of us," said Swenson. "A bunch of smart people taking advantage of order-execution rules as opposed to doing something good for the marketplace."

James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.