Trackers are losers - go for ETFs instead

With most actively managed funds failing to beat the market, investors have welcomed tracker funds. But there's a much easier way to track the markets of your choice: ETFs. We pick the best tracker replacements.

It's no secret that most fund managers don't do a very good job. All one really expects from a managed fund is that it makes returns better than the market as a whole.

But most managers just can't seem to do it: a recent study from independent financial adviser Bestinvest shows that, in the past 20 years, only 42% of actively managed funds beat the market over each three-year period. No wonder private investors have so warmly embraced tracker funds.

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Eoin came to MoneyWeek in 2006 having graduated with a MLitt in economics from Trinity College, Dublin. He taught economic history for two years at Trinity, while researching a thesis on how herd behaviour destroys financial markets.