The Contrarian Investor: Picking the stockpickers

CONTRARIAN INVESTOR

I expect 2013 will stand out in investors' collective memory as a vintage year, despite all the doom and gloom propagated by the bond vigilantes.

By contrast, my suspicion is the coming year might be a more volatile affair, not least because stock markets have got a bit ahead of themselves again in valuation terms. If I am right, 2014 could be yet another one of those years in which active stockpicking fund managers are supposed to prove their mettle. But which managers should we choose to help us navigate these choppier markets in 2014? I am fairly cautious about the claims made for active fund management, and I cannot help but think most stockpickers shout much too loudly about their supposed skills. Yet, just because the mob...