A fading light? Advisers debate the passive trend

For some – probably younger – financial advisers, passive investing is a relatively recent phenomenon. But it actually has its roots in the 1970s, when John Clifton Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, created the first publicly-available index fund in 1975. This means, of course, that it has taken some time for passive solutions to shuffle onto advisers’ and wealth managers’ radars. Today, however, the likes of index trackers, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded commodities (ETCs) are now established members of the investment world. One of the most-cited reasons for ...