Did Hamish get it wrong fro all of us?, page-43

Hey Pom,

The ago old debate between passive versus active has been going on for an eternity.

You could argue either side is better until you turn blue.

Like most things in life, the answer often lies in the middle and not the extremes.

IMO both have a place in a person's portfolio.

Up until this recent catastrophe, it would have been very easy to argue passive, index trackers are by far the better product for performance and minuscule fees.

But as this crisis has shown, following the index is sometimes a two edged sword. There is no downside protection, nor the ability to turn to safe haven assets like cash.

If anything, and just my two cents, anyone who ties to convince you one is categorically better than the other is probably someone not worth listening to.

Once the market rebounds, and it will like it always has, those invested index tracking funds, will reap the rewards once again. However, for the time being, they present significant danger.