S&P Dow Jones head of index Tim Edwards says over 30 years 98% of actively managed funds either failed to survive or survived but did not beat their relevant benchmarks.
S&P publish SPIVA, an annual report tracking how well actively managed funds perform against their appropriate benchmarks.
Edwards, who was in New Zealand recently, said that in most markets most of the time, managers failed to outperform.
Those that did manage to outperform were not the same ones each time.
There is very little evidence of persistency over the three to five year time horizon, Edwards told Good Returns TV.
He also noted there was "quite high" attrition rates amongst actively managed funds.
For more on active v passive investment watch the video.
