Your Mutual Fund Manager Just Doesn’t Matter Much Anymore Hi Guys,
There is no universal correct answer to the fund management question. It depends on the specifics. Most funds these days are team managed, like 75% of them. For this majority, the answer is in the No bracket. But a respectable number of funds are managed by a mostly single or small group cohort that has a decisive influence on market decisions. It matters in this active group of fund managers.
The primary example here is the Warren Buffett/Charley Munger team. Any change here will likely have a major impact on how their firm will survive amd function. Even with this illustrious team, yearly performance varies over a wide range. Skill matters when investing, but luck and opportunities are unpredictable and also enter the performance equation. In the marketplace, the only certainty is outcome uncertainty.
Certainly not all fund managers are equal. Do you remember the Steadman fund family? I do. Those funds had dismal performance records for many years. Just like there are some long term losers, there are some long term winners. The trick is to identify them early. That's not an easy job.
Good luck for a successful search. A significant number of exceptions always exist.
Best Wishes
ADDED THOUGHT: Statistics are helpful, but can be misleading when incompletely reported. It is not enough to simply report the average of a Normal distribution. That's nice, but not enough. The standard deviation, the maximum and minimum values, and the sample size are needed to permit a meaningful interpretation of that statistic. Buyer beware!
