Does Fidelity Special Situations manager Anthony Bolton disprove active management sceptics?
The performance myth persists partly because of the emergence from time to time of ‘legendary’ managers. One such is Anthony Bolton, soon to retire as manager of Fidelity’s Special Situations fund. How does he fare when measured against such tests? He’s good but not good enough to replace a tracker, even to the extent of 20%. He also demonstrates the fatal practical flaw of active management:even for the best managers after the event, relative performance is so inconsistent along the way that most advisers, let alone their clients, cannot stay the course.
read more Commentary by Stuart Fowler