Morningstar got a lot of pushback from readers in the wake of John Rekenthaler’s recent essay that asked a loaded question: “Do Active Funds Have a Future?” His short answer: “Apparently not much.” Unsurprisingly, advocates of active management responded with gales of criticism, triggering a bit of a mea culpa from Rekenthaler, a Morningstar veteran and generally speaking one of the better analysts in the mutual fund game. He writes in a follow-up piece: “Rather than pit active funds against passive funds, I should distinguish between deserving funds and those that are not. I agree.”
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