Active vs. passive investing? Billionaire Jeff Vinik’s advice

With all the talk of actively managed funds versus passively managed funds, billionaire Jeffrey Vinik, who once ran one of the world’s largest actively managed funds, said most investors should actually have a mix of both.

“For most investors, a balanced portfolio makes the most sense. I would advise both probably have half passive and half active in their portfolio,” Vinik said in an interview with CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Friday.

Active funds are outperforming the broader market so far this year, up 3.04 percent from January to April, with passive funds up 2.80 percent in that same time frame, according to Morningstar. Actively managed U.S. equity funds have seen about $700 billion in outflows since 2006, the firm also found.

For those who want an active management portfolio, Vinik had a word of advice.

“The market’s gotten more competitive over time, more people trying to pick stocks, trying to pick industries, etc.,” he said. “So I think it is really important for those people, those investors who want to use active portfolio management, to really do their research and have the very best managers.”

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Vinik, who owns the Tampa Bay Lightning, managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1992 to 1996. During that time, the fund was up 84 percent, versus the S&P 500, which was up 77.8 percent.

He then ran a hedge fund before shutting it down to focus on his hockey team and real estate.

Vinik believes the market is just as healthy as it was 20 years ago.

“Markets, they go through cycles over long periods of times and there’s better liquidity at some periods of times, there’s ups, there’s downs, there’s all kind of different conditions,” he said.

However, he called the financial markets a great place for companies to raise capital.

“On the other side, for really good investors who do their homework, there’s opportunity to make outside rewards,” Vinik added.

[“source-cnbc.com”]