The Behavioral Alpha Benchmark and the Active-Passive Debate
Active managers are still very much at play in today’s market, and recent findings show that the skilled ones can outperform their indexes.
Active managers are still very much at play in today’s market, and recent findings show that the skilled ones can outperform their indexes.
It’s time to consider the quality of a portfolio manager’s decisions — not just near-term performance.
Active managers need to start incorporating the lessons of behavioral science if they have a chance of reversing the flow of assets into passive investment vehicles.
Times like these are when it’s both most important and most difficult to make deliberate, mindful decisions. These leading investment coaches have some suggestions.
In my last blog post, I mentioned an objection we often hear from managers who are reticent about working with Essentia: “I’m afraid it will mess with my process”. This post offers a real-life example.
“I’m afraid of messing with my process. It might make me worse” - this is one of the most common objections we hear at Essentia.
We examined our database of real-world portfolio manager behavior and found that managers who engage with nudges, on average, significantly outperform those who do not.
Our latest case study shows how the managers of a concentrated, low turnover equity fund were able to unlock over 4% of incremental alpha per year by using Essentia’s behavioral analysis, tailored nudges and expert coaching.
Alpha is the holy grail of active portfolio management but its source has always been elusive - until now. In their latest analysis, our research team break new ground by identifying the factors most commonly associated with alpha generation (and destruction) by equity fund managers.
The coronavirus pandemic poses new challenges to the way we manage ourselves and perform. We talk to seven top investment coaches about how to keep making good portfolio decisions in a disruptive and turbulent environment.