Deep Dive #6: Are active fund managers a dying breed?

Episode 364 of the AJ Bell Money & Markets podcast, hosted by AJ Bell, titled "Deep Dive #6: Are active fund managers a dying breed?" was published on November 17, 2025 and runs 59 minutes.

November 17, 2025 ·59m · AJ Bell Money & Markets

Summary

The battle between active and passive managers has been going in earnest for over a decade now, and the passive machines are winning. In this Deep Dive, Laith Khalaf and Dan Coatsworth explore the active and passive fund landscape, and ask if there is a way back for active fund managers. Dan and Laith discuss why passive funds have become so popular and share some stats on fund flows and figures from AJ Bell’s Manager versus Machine report, which pits active and passive funds against each other. [01:01] Laith catches up with Craig Baker who chairs the investment committee for Alliance Witan, one of the biggest investment trusts in the UK, to find out why they have chosen a distinctive active investment strategy and how it’s been performing. [22:28] Paul Angel, Head of Investment Research at AJ Bell joins Dan and Laith to talk about how to pick active and passive funds. [34:05] Paul, Dan and Laith discuss whether the rise of passive funds is bad for the stockmarket and consider the future of active management. [48:17]

Episode Description