Off the Point
Troy, having read your submissions, there is hardly a statement you've made, or a line of thinking that stands up to the smallest scrutiny. Firstly it's clear you haven't a clue how Irish life's Consensus fund operates. Secondly you made similar sweeping statements about the national pension reserve fund, without the slightest effort to research. On both counts you introduced things that directly oppose your views!
Next you state that BB and AAM, and EH promoted the Eurostoxx as the preferred SSIA. Neither did, but what's new. Nowhere did BB in my recollection make such a statement. Nowhere did AAM do so either, in fact most contributors promoted broker company offerings. Finally the Consumer report written by EH on it's site does not choose any investment strategy at all. If I recall the Eurostoxx debate originally arose on TV, as an alternative for the small lump sum investor to the advice from full service Irish stockbrokers represented on the programme by Davy's and Merrion- a valid context.
In seven to eight cases out of ten, index tracking has beaten active management in the more efficient large stocks in Europe and US. But uninformed, and lacking the time or energy to study up, most people buy funds sold them, purely on past performance data, manipulated usually by picking a timeframe, usually a short one, and making wild interpretations. Just like you've done. Rarely are people told that most active management promises fail, and that a lower risk approach is index tracking. It's no panacea, and in a falling market it has no breaks, but in rebound and rising market it has no 'interference'.
You've taken a 12 month timeframe,ie one statistical set and cast your comments accordingly. You've used unresearched, and embarrassingly inaccurate examples to prop up your bias, and failed. But still you persist. I'd hate to be a client of yours. Were you trained over a cup of coffe?
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