Active and passive strategies: Why two can be better than one in portfolios

Jordan Sriharan, head of collectives research at Thomas Miller Investment, explores the benefits of using active and passive strategies in portfolio construction.

The active versus passive debate continues to generate headlines, with campaigners on both sides making credible arguments. But the benefits of using both in a well-constructed portfolio seem to be mainly overlooked in the discussion. To maintain a steadfast loyalty to one over the other would be to the detriment of clients' portfolios. Simply comparing fund performance to a benchmark can lead to incorrect conclusions, whereas allocating to both active and passive strategies can produce a more efficient outcome, particularly in global equity markets. US active underperformance Mu...