You definitely aren't the first, or will be the last, being...

You definitely aren't the first, or will be the last, being tempted to move your funds into index funds.

I have been a proponent of active investment for a very long time. But years of underperformance and exorbitant fees have eroded most of my good will.

I think my last foray into L1 Long Short Fund (LSF) was the straw that broke the camels back. Complete and utter incompetence... all that is bad with active investment.

I have to admit, closed investment vehicles, whether they be LICs or LITs, are definitely on the nose to investors. I think even more so due to the fact investment banks are pushing them non-stop to clients, despite their horrendous track record upon opening. Then there is the continual deviation from NTA.

It makes sense for a fund manager though, having a stable pile of funds and not having to ever worry about people pulling their money. I also didn't realise the current loophole with listed investment vehicles, like LICs/LITs, that enable hefty commissions to still be paid to the investment banks etc. who promote them. It's extraordinary how much money fund managers are throwing at them to get their products over the line. Needless to say the interests of the investor are a distant second.

In the event franking credit refunds are scrapped it makes logical sense to move all Wilson funds into an LIT structure. No doubt most LICs will follow suit, especially those with a large cohort benefiting from refunds.

The fact that such a simple move circumvents their intended policy speaks volumes about Labour's policy in the first place...

P.S. I still am not a fan girl (like most) when it comes to index funds. Ultimately, I think they are insidious vehicles that have resulted in increasingly ineffective/mispriced markets, that only sustain an existence thanks to active investors doing all the hard work. The fact that as soon as a company reaches a reference benchmark its share price goes bananas is further proof of the craziness. Lets just hope we never reach that mark that John Bogle stated “If everybody indexed, the only word you could use is chaos, catastrophe,” “The markets would fail”.

I am aware that passive investment has served many people very well... but always remember whose shoulders you are standing on.