The perils of past performance data

Three-year past performance figures are less reliable compared to other timeframes, an IMA report on past performance shows. According to the Charles River Associates report, commissioned by the IMA, persistency of fund performance does exist, both among bad funds and good. The report concludes that as persistency is not random, it is a useful tool in picking funds. Using performance information from Standard & Poor's augmented with other sources, Charles River found roughly a third of funds in the top quartile of any of four UK sectors during the past 20 years, when looking at 12-mont...