M&G's Willcocks - It's active 'and' passive, not 'versus'

Value for money, not price, should be investors' greater focus

M&G global head of retail sales Jonathan Willcocks discusses the different but complementary roles he believes active and passive funds will play in investment portfolios in the years ahead.

What do you see as the best argument for active investing over passive? The narrative on passive investing has really gathered momentum over the last few years but some of the empirical evidence I see quoted perhaps slightly misses the point. That is because most of the data primarily focuses on the numbers of funds within a given sector and not the weighted assets. By default, the average active fund should underperform its benchmark by the fee it charges - and, by extension, it should underperform passive funds, which have lower charges. But the reality is that the money invested ...