Once again, it's hard to beat the market..

..even if you job is to do exactly that. We're talking about fund managers here; the 'league tables' are out.

James Dunn in The Australian:

According to Phillip Gray, editorial and communications manager at Morningstar Australasia, last year 325 of 609 (or 53.6 per cent) actively managed large-capitalisation Australian share funds outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index (which counts capital gain plus dividends reinvested.)

Over three years, 262 of 502 funds (or 52.2 per cent) beat the index. Over five years, the winning proportion fell to 41.7 per cent (176 of 422 funds), while 45 per cent (64 of 142 funds) came out in front after 10 years. After 15 years, 33 of 55 funds (60 per cent) were ahead.

This is no great surprise.