Hogarthian image of the South Sea Bubble by Edward Matthew Ward via Wikimedia Commons/public domain

By Daniel Rasmussen

Outcomes are easy to measure in financial markets: you either beat the index or you don’t. And the results could not be clearer about how few people possess any real skill.

A recent study found that 70 percent of actively managed funds have failed to beat their benchmark index and just 2.3 percent have delivered excess returns of more than 2.5…