The Better-of-Two Strategy for Active Management: Dynamically Combining (and Valuing) Active and Passive Portfolios Through Time

37 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2020

See all articles by Steve Fox

Steve Fox

Capital Group

P. Brett Hammond

Pension Research Council

Date Written: August 1, 2020

Abstract

The active-versus-passive asset debate falsely forces investors into an all-or-nothing decision between the two. Instead, following Margrabe, we use a “better-of-two” option to:

(1) calculate the value of active management and,

(2) find the optimal weights for an active-plus-passive portfolio that dynamically replicates this option through time.

Using simulations, we found that for an at-the-money exchange option with a 10-year horizon, an investor would pay about 5.5% of the passive portfolio’s value. To replicate this option, the investor would allocate roughly 40% the active asset. We also accounted for borrowing costs, tracking error and active alpha, finding that replication cost and portfolio turnover decrease as time horizon increases and that results are robust to errors in expected volatility. Finally, we replaced hypothetical return distributions with historical mutual fund returns used in 60/40 equity/fixed income portfolios rebalanced monthly. Excess ending wealth distributions using the better-of-two strategy exceeded those of an all-active strategy with better downside protection. These values also came close or, in the case of funds that produced excess return, exceeded the ending value of the all-passive strategy while limiting downside relative risk. Gains from the dynamic option replication portfolio are particularly noticeable during periods when active excess returns are negative. Turnover for long-horizon portfolios is less than 4% per month and our results are statistically significant.

Keywords: active management, passive management, option value, exchange option, fiduciary responsibility, dynamic replication, portfolio allocation

JEL Classification: G00, G10, G11, G12

Suggested Citation

Fox, Steve and Hammond, Paul Brett, The Better-of-Two Strategy for Active Management: Dynamically Combining (and Valuing) Active and Passive Portfolios Through Time (August 1, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3667838 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3667838

Steve Fox

Capital Group ( email )

333 S. Hope Street, 53rd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071
United States

Paul Brett Hammond (Contact Author)

Pension Research Council ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6365
United States
9142629908 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
302
Abstract Views
1,090
Rank
183,489
PlumX Metrics