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Portfolio Design: Active vs Passive

Posted on: 11.14.16 By: Mike Kastler, MSF

portfolio

Portfolio design with either active or passive investing styles is one of the great investing debates today. Most of the finance experts and money managers are usually passionate on one style or the other and invest their clients’ nest egg with their preferred style. If your money manager is an active style portfolio manager, he or she probably won’t build you a portfolio based exclusively on index funds. If your money manager is a passive manager style, you probably won’t see individual stocks in your portfolio.

But what philosophies are each of these styles based on and what are the pros and cons of each? In a previous blog post we explored brief investment style history that has led up to the great active vs passive debate. So with that as background, let’s go a little bit deeper on each of these.

Active Portfolio Investment Style

Active investment style involves the on-going buying and selling of assets to maximize the portfolio’s return. The active financial analyst uses either technical analysis (market analysis) or fundamental analysis (company financial profile analysis) or a combination of the two. The goal is to search for the growth or value stock and buy it at the ‘right’ time and sell it at the ‘right’ time. The goal is to profit from short-term price fluctuations, in other words, “timing the market.”

The advantages of the active investment style include:

  • Your portfolio is analyzed proactively
  • An expert money manager may potentially bring you greater returns (but only if they have a superb technical or fundamental analyst on staff)

However, there can be many downsides of an actively managed portfolio:

  • More transactions mean more commission dollars being paid
  • Usually a much larger percent of your total assets goes toward the money manager (between 1 and 1.5% of the total assets under management (AUM) is the typical yearly fee)
  • Potential tax implications of the assets being sold
  • It has been increasingly difficult to find money managers that can consistently outperform the market
  • That last bullet is what is leading many investors to look for other options. “Why should I pay a money manager a 1%+ AUM fee if they can’t beat the market on a regular basis?” is a common gripe amongst everyday investors. This is the core reason that many investors turn to either a do-it-yourself (DIY) investment style or look to a passive investment manager.

    Passive Portfolio Investment Styles

    Buy and Hold

    Buy and hold generally means to buy a set of assets and hold them indefinitely. Generally speaking, the assets would be a set of stocks in an undiversified portfolio. For example, if someone has an affinity toward a certain stock(s), they may invest in that stock(s) and hold it indefinitely whether it goes up or down. They may also collect a nice dividend along the way. In that example, the intention is to reap the reward of the consistent dividend. The buy and hold style may work for some people some of the time, depending on their circumstances and requirements.

    The downside of buy and hold is selecting the right stocks can be hit or miss. You may be gaining a small dividend, but potentially giving up diversification within your portfolio which may actually slow your growth and expose you to more risk.

    Indexed Portfolio

    There is an alternative passive investment style to the ‘buy and hold’ stock strategy: a mutual fund that tracks to a specific market index, such as the S&P 500. Such a mutual fund is called an index fund. The advantage of the index fund strategy is the exposure to many more stocks which reduces the risk from a buy and hold strategy of a limited number of stocks.

    Using the example of the S&P 500 benchmark index, an investor would select one of the
    dozens and dozens of index funds and ETFs that are available in the marketplace that closely tracks the S&P 500. Then buy and hold that index fund for the long term.

    Now to complicate things, there are many more benchmark indexes than the S&P 500. There are indexes that track different industries, different types of stocks, different geographies, currencies, etc. etc. An indexed portfolio can contain more than one index fund that would track some of these other benchmark indexes. In fact, doing so is recommended and will help with diversification to spread out the overall risk of the portfolio.

    The advantage of the indexed portfolio investment style is that over the long-term, generally, the benchmark indexes have done very well. So, by selecting a few well-diversified index funds, you can have a potentially very well performing portfolio over the long term. Also, the myriad of index funds that are available has extremely low cost, which boosts the overall performance of the portfolio.

    The downside is that if your time horizon is short-term, you could suffer from the decline of the benchmark index(es) that your portfolio is designed to track.

    Indexed Portfolio with Active Portfolio Management

    By constructing a portfolio that is properly diversified and correlated to multiple global indexes, you can diversify away much of the non-market risk (systematic risk). Doing so can smooth out some of the ups and downs you will get with a single index fund.

    The process to develop the overall best portfolio can be very involved, hence active portfolio management. A general methodology for developing a diversified portfolio consists of the following:

    • Understand your goals, objectives, timeframes and risk tolerance levels
    • Select a set of benchmarks to design the portfolio
    • Evaluate the myriad of assets that can best track the benchmarks (for example, which mutual funds or ETFs are best for the investor)
    • Properly weight, diversify and correlate the various assets
    • Monitor regularly
    • Rebalance as appropriate

    Once the portfolio is designed and in place, then it is a matter of regular monitoring and rebalancing on a regular basis. Some money managers will recommend and perform daily evaluation and rebalancing for some of the more complex portfolios. For more simplified portfolios, the monitoring and adjustments can be yearly or quarterly. The suitable review timeframe for you depends on your own unique circumstances and requirements.

    The advantage that the passive indexed portfolio has with active portfolio management includes:

    • Portfolio tailored to your best interest and risk tolerance
    • Lowest cost structure due to the use of index funds and ETFs (some as low as .05%)
    • ETFs may be more tax-friendly depending on the portfolio mix
    • In many cases, may outperform the active investment style approach
    • Regular interval feedback on portfolio performance

    With so many advantages you may wonder what the downsides are. With better possible performance in the short-term, long-term AND with lower fund costs, there really isn’t much of a downside. The only downside may be the cost of hiring a finance expert to develop your financial plan, investment strategy, and occasional portfolio monitoring. But that cost may likely be offset by the overall gains and peace of mind.

    Portfolio Design – Why it Matters

    The bottom line is you can’t predict or control the performance of the market, but you can predict and control the FEES that you pay in your funds! That is the major advantage of using index funds and ETFs. Even a half percent lower fee over the long term can add several hundred thousand dollars to your nest egg.

    When you couple the passive investment style with active portfolio management, you are gaining the best of both worlds – leveraging the lower fees and actively managing your diversification and correlation to minimize risk within the portfolio.

    Actions You Can Take

    Start by writing down your personal and financial goals, the risk you are willing to take (how much you are willing to lose), your overall purpose in life, the specific goals you would like to achieve (short, medium and long-term), your income, assets, and debts. Make an attempt to create a personalized Investment Policy Statement for yourself. Then seek out a qualified professional to help you come up with your personalized financial plan. Your investment plan should be a key component of your overall financial plan. Look for a fee-only financial planner to give you a commission-free assessment of what strategy and investment funds are best for you.

    If you need help, Contact Us or visit our webpage for more information on investment management services.

    About Kastler Financial Planning

    Our core purpose is to improve the financial life for each and every client we serve. We believe that people of all income levels should have access to affordable and professional financial planning and investment management services, without the pressure or bias of product sales and commissions. Always acting as a fiduciary, the only fee we receive is the fee paid by the client. We put your best interest before our own. No product sales, no commissions, and no account minimums. Our services can be performed either as a one-time project, on-going Subscription Plan, or hourly consulting services.

    We specialize in Retirement Planning, Special Needs families, business owners, engineers and technical-minded individuals that want and expect detail written Plans that can be performed either yourself or with our help.

    Our suite of services also include Investment Management Services with the options of % AUM or flat-fee portfolio management. View our list of fee-only services.

    We aim for a pleasant client experience whether you are in our office or remote across the country through computer screen sharing technology. View our Planning Process here and learn how to get started with a complimentary ‘Get Acquainted’ meeting.

    Contact Us

    If you have any question on how our services may apply to you, please contact me at the number below or submit an email through our Contact Us form.

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    Kastler Financial Planning | Ortonville, MI 48462
    248-564-1404

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    Plan - Invest - Retire

    Investment advisor representative of and investment advisory services offered through Garrett Investment Advisors, LLC., a fee-only, SEC-registered investment advisor. Tel: (910)-FEE-ONLY. Kastler Financial Planning may offer investment advisory services in the State of Michigan and in other jurisdictions where exempted.

    This communication has been provided to you for informational purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of a security. Although information in this presentation has been obtained from and is based upon sources that Garrett Investment Advisors, LLC believes to be reliable, Garrett Investment Advisors does not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. This information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation.

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