Do mutual funds ever beat the market?
Do mutual funds outperform the stock market? The study found that most actively managed mutual funds do worse than their benchmark index during most calendar years and over the long run. Notably, low-cost stock and bond index funds generally offer more predictable returns and lower costs than actively-managed funds.
Active management, a key feature of mutual funds, may appear enticing as it seeks to surpass market benchmarks. However, it's crucial to consider that even the most seasoned investment professionals often find it challenging to consistently outperform market indices.
To examine the stock-picking record of active managers, I looked at the portfolio histories for all funds in the nine Morningstar Style Box categories dating to 2013 through the end of 2023. Over those 10 years, only 10% of mutual funds saw more than half of their stock picks beat the index.
| Fund name | Falling less than benchmark and category median | Beating 5-year rolling return of benchmark* |
|---|---|---|
| Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund | 83% | 100% |
| DSP ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 67% | 100% |
| Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 67% | 100% |
| Mirae Asset Large & Midcap Fund | 67% | 100% |
The second highest performing fund in the list was the $395m BlackRock US Growth fund, managed by Phil Ruvinsky and Caroline Bottinelli. The strategy was up 52.68% last year, after a 40.57% loss in 2022. Over a five-year period ending 2023, the strategy was up 92.91% – lagging the S&P 500 index return of 107.21%.
However, mutual funds are considered a bad investment when investors consider certain negative factors to be important, such as high expense ratios charged by the fund, various hidden front-end, and back-end load charges, lack of control over investment decisions, and diluted returns.
It is relatively common to beat the market for 1–3 years at a time. That can largely be explained by luck. But the data clearly shows that even professional fund managers are unable to beat the market consistently over a longer period of time, like 10–15 years.
Just 40% of all mutual and active exchange-traded funds in the closely watched U.S. large-capitalization stock category beat the S&P 500 index last year, according to the latest S&P Dow Jones Indices passive vs. active report—better known as SPIVA.
(NASDAQ:DXCM) and Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) are the only two healthcare sector companies that have made it onto our list of 13 stocks that outperform the S&P 500 every year for the last 5 years. The shares of DexCom, Inc.
Less than 10% of active large-cap fund managers have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 15 years.
Is there a better investment than mutual funds?
Stocks offer larger potential returns than mutual funds, but the trade-off is increased risk. Stocks can be a smart investment if you have a higher risk tolerance, want control over your trading decisions, and are comfortable conducting your own fundamental research or technical analysis to pick investments.
The average mutual fund return for growth and income funds for the last 10 years is approximately 10.24%. Roughly 75% of mutual funds underperform their benchmark index over a 10-year period. As of 2019, mutual funds managed more than $22.5 trillion in assets.
Looking at the seven major categories of mutual funds above, the average annualized return for 2021 was 11.54%. Large-cap stock funds performed the best, outpacing many of the returns investors may have gotten on other accounts, such as certificates of deposit (CDs), high-yield savings accounts, and even real estate.
I put my personal 401(k) and a lot of my mutual fund investing in four types of mutual funds: growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. I personally spread mine in 25% of those four.
| Fund Name | 5 Years Return | 10 Years Return |
|---|---|---|
| HDFC Mid Cap Opportunities Fund (G) | 23.9% | 21.5% |
| HDFC Small Cap Fund (G) | 22.8% | 21.2% |
| Quant Small Cap Fund (G) | 36.8% | 20.8% |
| HSBC Value fund (G) | 21.5% | 20.8% |
Money market funds are generally considered to be a very safe haven for your cash. They are much less risky than mutual funds that invest in stocks. However, they are not federally insured and investors can lose money.
An investment of Rs 30,000 every month with annual returns of 12 per cent, it takes eight years to reach your first Rs 50 lakh. But it takes just half the time, or just four years, to earn your second Rs 50 lakh, and for the third Rs 50 lakh, you need just three years.
Mutual funds come with many advantages, such as advanced portfolio management, dividend reinvestment, risk reduction, convenience, and fair pricing. Disadvantages include high fees, tax inefficiency, poor trade execution, and the potential for management abuses.
When it comes to equity, it is very important that, especially when you are thinking about long-term goals, you want to exit as soon as you have 2-3 years left approaching your goal and there are just 2-3 years to get there. That is number one.
During the one-year period, 84.62% of large-cap managers, 87.89% of mid-cap managers, and 88.77% of small-cap managers underperformed the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400®, and the S&P SmallCap 600®, respectively. The figures are equally unfavorable when viewed over longer-term investment horizons.
Why do financial advisors hate index funds?
Financial Advisors' Fees Are Too High to Use Index Funds
We looked at the overwhelming body of research that points to the low-odds of outperforming the market over the long run using stock-picking or market-timing strategies.
In other words, even professionals can't beat the market with consistency. That means that the right expectation is typically to target a portfolio that tracks the market as closely as possible with a balance between risk (stocks) and stability (bonds) that matches your goals and risk tolerance.
It is possible to become a millionaire by investing in mutual funds, but it is not guaranteed. Mutual funds are investment vehicles that pool together money from many investors and use that money to buy a diverse portfolio of stocks, bonds, or other securities.
It's technically possible to lose money in a market account, but not in the same way you can lose money in an investment account. Depending on the terms of your money market account, you could lose value to fees and inflation.
The Final Rule's 80% basket is 80% of the fund's assets. “Assets” is defined to mean “net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes” and subject to certain rules and exclusions described in this Section IV.
