FundQuest: Index vs. Active? It All Depends

Which perform better, index funds or actively managed funds? According to FundQuest, both have their virtues. In an analysis of more than 15,000 funds in 63 fund categories as determined by Morningstar to be released Monday, FundQuest found nearly half of the actively-managed mutual fund categories outperformed their benchmarks, while 23 were about even and nine underperformed. “There have typically been two camps, either all active or all passive,” FundQuest Chef Investment Officer Timothy Clift told Investment News. “This kind of explains that there are benefits to both strategies, and more efficient markets tend to be better places to pick indexes and less efficient ones tend to be better places to pick active managers.” Incidentally, Morningstar data revealed that America Funds’ Growth Fund of America, the best selling mutual fund so far this year, appears to be performing close to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, according to Investment News.