, Columnist
Passive Investing Hasn’t Taken Over the World
Ignore the hype. Actively managed money dwarfs the assets in low-cost index funds.
Perspectiove plays just a small part.
Photographer: Michael Caronna/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The battle is over: Passive investing is victorious. Active management has been defeated.
By now, you surely know that Wall Street quakes at the mere mention of indexers, who devour all in front of them. Active managers, many of whom have since moved on to careers as Wal-Mart greeters or dental hygienists, are becoming as rare as the northern white rhinoceros. Once derided as “Bogle’s folly” – indexing’s inventor was Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle – passive investing is now an unstoppable force, taking over everyone and everything in sight.