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Trending: Top Three Emerging Markets Equity Funds
Daniel Cross
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These funds specifically invest in emerging market economies with the largest being China...
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Contributing to the trend is that, thanks to efforts like those of the research team at Standard & Poor’s, investors are becoming more cognizant of th"e relative performance of these two strategies. The most recent evidence comes from a September 2015 Standard & Poor’s research report. The report, which presents cross-country comparisons, provides a look at the global evidence covering the five-year period from 2010 through 2014. The following is a summary of its key findings:
While these figures present a pretty dismal picture of active managers, for taxable investors, the reality is actually far bleaker. This occurs because, for taxable investors, the greatest expense of active management (caused by its relatively high turnover) is frequently taxes. Thus, the percentage of active managers who were able to outperform after taxes would almost certainly be far lower than the S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) data indicates.
We’ll now take a look at some of the academic evidence on the impact of taxes on active management results.
In their 1993 study, “Is Your Alpha Big Enough to Cover Its Taxes?”, Robert Jeffrey and Robert Arnott found that over the 10-year period they studied, 21 percent of actively managed funds beat a passive alternative on a pre-tax basis, but just seven percent did so on an after-tax basis. They conclude: “The preponderance of evidence is so convincing we conclude that the typical approach of managing taxable portfolios as if they were tax-exempt is inherently irresponsible, even though doing so is the industry standard.”
We also have evidence from a 2000 study, “How Well Have Taxable Investors Been Served in the 1980s and 1990s?” Here’s a summary of its findings:
Again, the story is actually worse than it appears because the data above contains survivorship bias (33 funds disappeared during the timeframe covered by the study). One more point on survivorship bias: Since the study covered only funds with more than $100 million in assets, it is likely that the survivorship bias is understated. The funds that have successful track records tend to attract assets. Funds with poor records tend to lose assets or be closed, never reaching the $100 million threshold of the study.
The authors of this study – Robert Arnott and Andrew Berkin, along with Paul Bouchey – updated it in 2011. They concluded that the typical approach for managing taxable portfolios (acting as if taxes can’t be reduced or deferred) remains the industry standard. Yet they estimated that the typical active fund must generate a pre-tax alpha of greater than two percent a year to offset the tax drag from its active strategies, and most funds cannot accomplish that feat. The finding of a tax drag in excess of two percent is consistent with the findings from other studies.
It’s important to consider that because of the two bear markets we experienced in the first decade of this century, the impact of taxes on returns has been less than the long-term experience. That is why it’s important to look at data from prior periods.
The evidence is so overwhelming, that Ted Aronson of AJO partners, an active institutional fund manager with about $24 billion in assets under management, offered this advice: “Once you introduce taxes, active management probably has an insurmountable hurdle.”
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
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Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
Download our free report
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
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Contributing to the trend is that, thanks to efforts like those of the research team at Standard & Poor’s, investors are becoming more cognizant of th"e relative performance of these two strategies. The most recent evidence comes from a September 2015 Standard & Poor’s research report. The report, which presents cross-country comparisons, provides a look at the global evidence covering the five-year period from 2010 through 2014. The following is a summary of its key findings:
While these figures present a pretty dismal picture of active managers, for taxable investors, the reality is actually far bleaker. This occurs because, for taxable investors, the greatest expense of active management (caused by its relatively high turnover) is frequently taxes. Thus, the percentage of active managers who were able to outperform after taxes would almost certainly be far lower than the S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) data indicates.
We’ll now take a look at some of the academic evidence on the impact of taxes on active management results.
In their 1993 study, “Is Your Alpha Big Enough to Cover Its Taxes?”, Robert Jeffrey and Robert Arnott found that over the 10-year period they studied, 21 percent of actively managed funds beat a passive alternative on a pre-tax basis, but just seven percent did so on an after-tax basis. They conclude: “The preponderance of evidence is so convincing we conclude that the typical approach of managing taxable portfolios as if they were tax-exempt is inherently irresponsible, even though doing so is the industry standard.”
We also have evidence from a 2000 study, “How Well Have Taxable Investors Been Served in the 1980s and 1990s?” Here’s a summary of its findings:
Again, the story is actually worse than it appears because the data above contains survivorship bias (33 funds disappeared during the timeframe covered by the study). One more point on survivorship bias: Since the study covered only funds with more than $100 million in assets, it is likely that the survivorship bias is understated. The funds that have successful track records tend to attract assets. Funds with poor records tend to lose assets or be closed, never reaching the $100 million threshold of the study.
The authors of this study – Robert Arnott and Andrew Berkin, along with Paul Bouchey – updated it in 2011. They concluded that the typical approach for managing taxable portfolios (acting as if taxes can’t be reduced or deferred) remains the industry standard. Yet they estimated that the typical active fund must generate a pre-tax alpha of greater than two percent a year to offset the tax drag from its active strategies, and most funds cannot accomplish that feat. The finding of a tax drag in excess of two percent is consistent with the findings from other studies.
It’s important to consider that because of the two bear markets we experienced in the first decade of this century, the impact of taxes on returns has been less than the long-term experience. That is why it’s important to look at data from prior periods.
The evidence is so overwhelming, that Ted Aronson of AJO partners, an active institutional fund manager with about $24 billion in assets under management, offered this advice: “Once you introduce taxes, active management probably has an insurmountable hurdle.”
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Receive email updates about best performers, news, CE accredited webcasts and more.
News
Daniel Cross
|
These funds specifically invest in emerging market economies with the largest being China...
Jayden Sangha
|
In this article, we will take a closer look at the upcoming initiatives...
Kristan Wojnar, RCC™
|
This week we are tackling the practice management topics of a client-centric approach,...
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
Download our free report
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
Download our free report
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
Mutual Fund Education
Justin Kuepper
|
Let's take a closer look at how ESG investments have outperformed during the...
Mutual Fund Education
Daniel Cross
|
While CITs and mutual funds share many similarities, there are some key differences...
Mutual Fund Education
Sam Bourgi
|
The phrase ‘bear market’ has been thrown around a lot lately, but it...