Studies have consistently shown that people are more likely to understand and retain information that is conveyed visually rather than verbally or in print. I regularly receive requests for copies of the PowerPoint slides. So for those of you that have never seen one of my presentations on the value of InvestSense’s proprietary metric, the Active Management Value Ratio ™ (AMVR) 3.0, here is a simple explanation of how the AMVR can help you detect cost-inefficient actively managed mutual funds in your personal portfolios and 401(k) plan accounts and better protect your financial security.

The Active Management Value Ratio™ (AMVR) 3.0
Active Management Value Metric (AMVR) 3.0 is based on combining the findings of two prominent investment experts, Charles Ellis and Burton Malkiel, with the prudent investment standards set out in the Restatement (Third) Trusts’ “Prudent Investor Rule.”

[R]ational investors should consider the true cost of fees charged by active managers not as a percentage of total returns but as the incremental fee as a percentage of the risk-adjusted incremental returns above the market index.” – Charles Ellis

Past performance is not helpful in predicting future returns. The two variables that do the best job in predicting future performance [of mutual funds] are expense ratios and turnover. – Burton Malkiel

Active strategies, however, entail investigation and analysis expenses and tend to increase general transaction costs,…If the extra costs and risks of an investment program are substantial, those added costs and risks must be justified by realistically evaluated return expectations. Accordingly, a decision to proceed with such a program involves judgments by the [fiduciary] that: (a) gains from the course of action in question can reasonably be expected to compensate for its additional costs and risks;… – Restatement (Third) Trusts [Section 90 cmt h(2)]

The following slides are based on the returns and risk data, 2017of a popular actively managed mutual fund over the five-year period January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017, compared to the returns and risk data of a comparable Vanguard index fund. The fund charges a front-end load, or purchase fee, of 5.75 percent. The Vanguard index fund does not charge a front-end load.

Nominal Returns
Mutual funds ads and brokerage accounts often provide a fund’s returns in terms of its nominal, or unadjusted returns. In our example, the actively managed fund’s incremental, or extra, costs exceed the fund’s incremental returns. This would result in a net loss for an investor, making the fund cost-inefficient and a poor investment choice. Furthermore, 67 percent of the actively managed fund’s fee is only producing 1 percent of the actively managed fund’s overall return. Yet another way of looking at the analysis – would you rather pay $31 for 15.92% in returns or $94 for an additional 0.16% of return?

Load-Adjusted Returns
However, Investors who invest in funds that charge a front-end load do not receive a fund’s nominal return since funds immediately deduct the cost of the front-end load at the time of an investor’s purchase of the fund. Since there is less money in the account to start with, an investor naturally receives less cumulative growth in their account when compared to a no-load fund with the same returns. This lag in cumulative growth will continue for as long as they own the mutual fund.

In our example, once the impact of the front-end load is factored into the fund’s returns, the investor not only charges higher fees, but also suffers an opportunity cost, as the fund underperforms the benchmark, the comparable Vanguard index fund. This double loss clearly makes the fund cost-inefficient and a poor investment choice.

Risk-Adjusted Returns
A final factor that should be considered is the risk-adjusted return of a fund. When comparing funds, it is obviously important to know if a fund incurred a higher level of risk to achieve its returns relative to another fund since investors may not be comfortable with such risk. As the quote from the Restatement points out, at the very least, investors would expect a higher return that would compensate them for a higher level of risk.

In our example, the actively managed fund assumed slightly less risk (10.01) than the Vanguard index fund (10.37). As a result, the actively managed fund’s returned improved slightly, but the fund failed to provide a positive incremental return and the fund’s incremental costs exceeded the fund’s incremental return. Once again, this double whammy makes the fund cost-inefficient and a poor investment choice.

The investment industry will often downplay unfavorable risk-adjusted results, saying that “investors cannot eat risk-adjusted returns.” However, the combined impact of additional fees and under-performance should not be ignored by an investor. Each additional 1 percent in fees results in approximately a 17 percent loss in end return for an investor over a twenty-year period. Historical under=performance can be considered an additional cost in evaluating a fund’s cost-efficiency since investor’s invest to make positive returns and enjoy the benefits of compounding of returns.

Interestingly enough, funds that may criticize risk-adjusted performance numbers have no problem touting favorable “star” ratings from Morningstar, which bases its “star” rating on, you guessed it, a fund’s risk-adjusted returns.

In my legal and consulting practices, we add two additional screens. The first screen is designed to eliminate “closet index” funds. Closet index funds are actively managed mutual funds that essentially track a market index or comparable index fund, but charge fees significantly higher, often 300-400 percent or higher, than a comparable index fund. Consequently, closet index funds are never cost-efficient.

The second additional screen InvestSense runs is a proprietary metric known as the InvestSense Fiduciary Rating (IFR). The IFR evaluates an actively managed mutual fund’s efficiency, both in terms of cost and risk management, and consistency of performance.

Conclusion
The Active Management Value Ratio™ 3.0 (AMVR) is a simple, yet very effective, tool that investment fiduciaries, plan sponsors and plan participants can use to identify cost-inefficient actively managed mutual funds and thus better protect their financial security. All of the information needed to perform the AMVR calculations is freely available online at sites such as morningstar.com, fidelity.com, and marketwatch.com.

For those willing to take the time to do the research and the calculations, the rewards can be significant. For fiduciaries, the time spent can be especially helpful in avoiding unwanted personal liability, as plaintiff’s securities and ERISA attorneys are becoming increasingly aware of the forensic value AMVR analysis provides in quantifying fiduciary prudence and investment losses. As a result, more securities and ERISA attorneys are incorporating AMVR analysis into their practices.