re: Actively Managed vs. Index Funds

Generally speaking, it is possible to get better performance with actively traded funds, but usually these are alternative investment funds that are difficult for average investors to get into, like a VC fund from Sequoia or Kleiner Perkins.

Additionally, the empirical data from the last 10+ years or so seems to suggest that a lot of the superior returns from hedge funds and alternative investments may be played out already to a large degree. Whereas a lot of university endowment funds and huge institutional investors made off like bandits in the 1990s allocating portions of their portfolio with alternative investments, the returns in recent years have been less than stellar.

Then again, the VC cycle comes and goes, and maybe the same is true for actively managed funds.