That maxim that in the stock market you always win in the long term is not entirely true. In the last 15 years, one in five investment funds has lost money. That means if a client invested in one of those funds in 2007, he had less money last year than he put in. These are data compiled by IESE professor Pablo Fernández, who for years has analyzed average and accumulated returns each year.
In a report, Fernández compares the average annual return of these funds (1.1%) with that of government bonds (4.4% per year). What they have achieved is to beat the Ibex, which presents average returns of 0.5%. On the other hand, those of the Eurostoxx 50 and those of the S
The differences between the different vehicles are enormous. The fund with the highest profitability is CaixaBank Multisalud with 334%. It is followed by Merchfondo with 333% and Bankinter USA Nasdaq 100 with 319%. On the other side is BBVA Demographic Megatrend, which lost 71%. The DP Selección is left with 59% and the AC Patrimonio Inmobiliario 54%.
IESE’s work states that “when an investor gives his money to a fund manager to manage it, he expects it to obtain a higher return than he can obtain. And he is willing to pay an annual commission in some cases greater than 2%”. On the other hand -continues the report- “the data indicates that very few managers deserve the commissions they charge for their management”.
One of the reflections that emerge from Pablo Fernández’s text is that “tax discrimination in favor of funds and against private investors” ends up being negative. It is cheaper to contract a fund than to bear the costs of directly buying the shares, the report detailed. For this reason, most private clients opt for funds, even though many of them have lower profitability than fixed income.
