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The indexing vs active management discussion got me looking for fund screeners, some interesting things I found:
Searching for Large Cap Blend
I used MS Money advanced screener, I limited displays to "top 25". According to yahoo, there are 1200 funds in this category.
of the 25 largest expense ratios (via MS Money) only 3 of those funds had 10 year track records.
of the 25 largest expense ratios, only 16 had 5 year track records
Conclusion- high cost funds may be the ones which don't "survive".
the 25 highest expense ratios were between 2.41% and 3.83%
10 year returns ranged from -1.94% to 3.97%
5 year returns ranged from .6% to 9.5%
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changed the screening criteria
of the 25 best performing funds for last 10 years expenses ranged from .67% to 1.97%
of the 25 best performing funds for last 5 years expenses ranged from .19% to 2.02%
The 10 year returns ranged from 11.15% to 16.79%
The 5 year returns ranged from 11.83% to 17.50%
conclusion, at the very top, expense cannot predict what will be successful.
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changed screening criteria. Look for highest cost small cap blend funds.
expense ratios ranged from 1.88 to 18.4%
10 yr performance ranged -28.98% to 9.88%
5 yr performance ranged from -32% to 22%
18 of the 25 had 5 yr performance history
5 of the 25 had a 10 yr performance history
two conclusions. High cost tends to impact "survivorship".
Cost does not have as high impact on selecting funds (for small caps).
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changed screen criteria. Looking for highest performing small cap funds.
10 yr performance were between 13.51% and 20.85%
10 yr expense ratios were between .79% and 2.19%
5 yr expense ratios were between .65% and 4.19%
5 yr performance were between 16.76% and 23.70%
conclusion- not sure... the better funds had a lower cost (for small caps) but still could not predict performance.
conclusion (overall)- high fees pick bad funds, but several of the top funds had "average fees". Use high fees to predict the bad funds- the really bad ones. But going with lowest cost is not the way to top performance.
This is for discussion and friendly banter... fire away
Searching for Large Cap Blend
I used MS Money advanced screener, I limited displays to "top 25". According to yahoo, there are 1200 funds in this category.
of the 25 largest expense ratios (via MS Money) only 3 of those funds had 10 year track records.
of the 25 largest expense ratios, only 16 had 5 year track records
Conclusion- high cost funds may be the ones which don't "survive".
the 25 highest expense ratios were between 2.41% and 3.83%
10 year returns ranged from -1.94% to 3.97%
5 year returns ranged from .6% to 9.5%
------------
changed the screening criteria
of the 25 best performing funds for last 10 years expenses ranged from .67% to 1.97%
of the 25 best performing funds for last 5 years expenses ranged from .19% to 2.02%
The 10 year returns ranged from 11.15% to 16.79%
The 5 year returns ranged from 11.83% to 17.50%
conclusion, at the very top, expense cannot predict what will be successful.
----------
changed screening criteria. Look for highest cost small cap blend funds.
expense ratios ranged from 1.88 to 18.4%
10 yr performance ranged -28.98% to 9.88%
5 yr performance ranged from -32% to 22%
18 of the 25 had 5 yr performance history
5 of the 25 had a 10 yr performance history
two conclusions. High cost tends to impact "survivorship".
Cost does not have as high impact on selecting funds (for small caps).
------------
changed screen criteria. Looking for highest performing small cap funds.
10 yr performance were between 13.51% and 20.85%
10 yr expense ratios were between .79% and 2.19%
5 yr expense ratios were between .65% and 4.19%
5 yr performance were between 16.76% and 23.70%
conclusion- not sure... the better funds had a lower cost (for small caps) but still could not predict performance.
conclusion (overall)- high fees pick bad funds, but several of the top funds had "average fees". Use high fees to predict the bad funds- the really bad ones. But going with lowest cost is not the way to top performance.
This is for discussion and friendly banter... fire away