I was horrified by the contents of one of my Finnish mutual funds when I looked into it after years of disinterest. I’m especially disgusted by UnitedHealth Group Inc - the health insurance company whose mass murderer CEO got shot recently, sparking nationwide cheers.
As a passive investor, you’ll forget your money into the wrong hands when the bank won’t remind you of developments in the political situation.
Ålandsbanken promises:
“socially sustainable”
You may assume your bank is civilised, but you should have a closer look. I’m a customer of S-bank in Finland. In this case, the fund ended up under a different Finnish bank twice due to buyouts, and the management of the fund ended up in a Canadian bank branch in the UK.
My other bank didn’t recommend selling my Russian investment when Putin’s reign had started going overdue after his full term as a president. Luckily I was awake and sold everything.
Investments drift out of balance over time. Within mutual funds, there are limits, but the funds grow at different rates. You should re-balance your diversification once in a while to avoid excessive country risk.
I don’t know if fund managers are bribed to distort the balance within the fund’s limits for the benefit of a third party.
My fund is managed by that guy. I sold everything.
You can check out SPIVA which tracks the people like the guy you’re paying to predict the future.
In all markets the results are consistent. Over a single year a professional has about a 50% chance of beating the average. This probability drops over time and over a 10Y period about 10-14% of professional investors beat the average.
You paying this professional is essentially the same as you thinking that you are able to identify the top 10-15% professional investors. And maybe you just are that great and we should all follow suit. But I doubt it. It’s your risk to take though. No one is going to force you to choose the cheaper option with the better probability to give the best returns.