Do managed mutual funds outperform index funds?
Has any actively managed mutual fund given better than market returns (index funds) over 10, 15, 25 years consistently? The answer is yes, it has been done—but it's not often talked about. For the last 10-25 years, a select few actively managed mutual funds have been consistently beating the market index funds.
Index funds offer lower fees and tax efficiency. Due to their passive nature, they often perform in line with market benchmarks, making them suitable for investors seeking broad market exposure at lower costs. On the other hand, active mutual funds aim to outperform the market by employing active management strategies.
Less than 10% of active large-cap fund managers have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 15 years. The biggest drag on investment returns is unavoidable, but you can minimize it if you're smart.
Although it is very difficult, the market can be beaten. Every year, some managers boast better numbers than the market indices. A small fraction even manages to do so over a longer period. Over the horizon of the last 20 years, less than 10% of U.S. actively managed funds have beaten the market.
The three main differences are management style, investment objective and cost — and index funds are the clear winner over the long term. Dayana is a former NerdWallet authority on investing and retirement.
| Fund | 2023 performance (%) | 5yr performance (%) |
|---|---|---|
| T. Rowe Price US Blue Chip Equity | 49.54 | 81.57 |
| MS INVF US Growth | 49.29 | 62.08 |
| New Capital US Growth | 48.68 | N/A |
| T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity Fund | 48.64 | 98.92 |
Cash has very low (or even negative) real returns due to inflation, so ETFs—with their in-kind redemption process—are able to earn better returns by investing all cash in the market. ETFs are more tax efficient than index funds because they are structured to have fewer taxable events.
The average stock market return is about 10% per year, as measured by the S&P 500 index, but that 10% average rate is reduced by inflation. Investors can expect to lose purchasing power of 2% to 3% every year due to inflation. » Learn more about purchasing power with NerdWallet's inflation calculator.
Start investing as early as possible
One of the most important rules of investing is to start as early as possible. This is because it takes time for money that you've invested to grow.
Over the full period, just 2% of actively managed Large-Cap Core funds beat the S&P 500. Even in categories such as small- and mid-sized stocks, and growth — which benefited from the tailwinds of an outperforming universe — a minimum of 81% of actively managed funds underperformed the benchmark.
Are Vanguard actively managed funds worth it?
Over the past 10 years, 94% of our actively managed funds performed better than their peer-group averages.
Buying individual stocks can beat index funds, but it usually does not. The trick is to pick only the best stocks, which most people, even most professional managers, don't manage to do. And that's why index funds outperform the vast majority of individual investors in spite of their flaws.
While indexes may be low cost and diversified, they prevent seizing opportunities elsewhere. Moreover, indexes do not provide protection from market corrections and crashes when an investor has a lot of exposure to stock index funds.
In the unlikely event that we become insolvent, your money and investments would be returned to you as quickly as possible, or transferred to another provider. This is because your money and investments are held separately from our own.
| Focused funds | 5-year-return (%) | Benchmark index (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 360 ONE Focused Equity Fund | 22.21 | 17.61 |
| Franklin India Focused Equity Fund | 18.03 | 17.45 |
| HDFC Focused 30 Fund | 18.96 | 17.45 |
| ICICI Prudential Focused Equity Fund | 19.04 | 17.61 |
Though mutual funds may be slightly more costly, fund managers provide support services. In addition to phone support from knowledgeable personnel, mutual funds may offer check-writing options and other shareholder services that ETFs don't provide.
Disadvantages. There are fees involved when investing in a managed fund, as you are hiring the service of the fund manager to produce returns on your investment. The amount of fees can vary greatly and can have a significant impact on your overall returns.
The long-term performance data show active management has a lot of catching up to do. Over the past 10 years, less than 7% of U.S. active equity funds have beaten the market, according to the Spiva U.S. scorecard .
Is Berkshire Hathaway Stock A Buy Now? Berkshire Hathaway stock generally lagged the S&P 500 index since late 2017, but managed to handily outperform the benchmark index in 2022. It lagged again in 2023 after giving up some spring and summer gains.
Berkshire has a history of outperforming the S&P 500 during recessions, and performing especially well during bear markets, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group. Since 1980, Berkshire shares have beat the broader market over the course of six recessions by a median of 4.41 percentage points.
How often do mutual funds beat the S&P 500?
S&P Dow Jones Indices' scorecard compares the performance of actively-managed mutual funds to major indices. It found that over the course of one year, 51.08% of actively-managed mutual funds underperformed the S&P 500, and 48.92% of actively-managed funds outperformed the S&P 500.
And to go one step further, we recommend dividing your mutual fund investments equally between four types of funds: growth and income, growth, aggressive growth, and international.
Disadvantages include the lack of downside protection, no choice in index composition, and it cannot beat the market (by definition).
Investors who buy index funds will not lose all of their investment. That's because they're investments buoyed by hundreds or thousands of underlying securities. As such, they're highly diversified, making it almost impossible for them to reach a value of zero.
Now, here the ETF returns may make for 80% of your total portfolio returns. In other words, the idea behind the 80/20 rule is that if you focus on the best performing 20% of your investments, chances are they will outperform the remaining 80%.
