How Well Have Taxable Investors Been Served in the 1980s and 1990s?

Abstract

This article examines the performance of large equity mutual funds over the past ten, fifteen, and twenty years. On both a before– and after–tax basis, the authors find that the average mutual fund underperformed the Vanguard Index 500 fund. Although part of this under–performance is attributed to a small–size bias inherent in active management, an analysis of the pure tax effects also shows that funds have not been managed in a tax–efficient manner. The authors suggest a few simple ways to improve after–tax performance.