According to Tony Robbins’ new financial book (a good read), back in 2009 Morningstar tracked over 4,300 actively managed funds. Worryingly they found that 49% of the managers had no money at all invested in their own fund!

Worse than this, of the remaining 51% most had a token amount in their fund.

2,126 had no money
159 invested less than $10,000
393 invested $10-50,000
285 invested $50-100,000
679 invested $100-500,000
197 invested $500,000- 1 million
413 invested more than $1 million

Bear in mind these guys are paid in millions and tens of millions for their “abilities”.

On one level nobody should trust any chef that will not eat their own cooking.

On another level, it is a known principle in business that being responsible or owning something always increases performance. How can we ignore applying known business principles when the performance of these funds is vital to the future of our society?

Finally, if someone doesn’t trust themselves to steward their own money, surely they should not be granted fiduciary status by society to look after the money of those who have less of it?