I thought I would do an update on Larry's article "Taking on the Lies of Active." The article was dated July 1st 2013. He compared American Century's 10 year performance to DFA and Vanguard. He used 10 year data as of May 2013. I will use 15 year data as of 4-19-2019 and see what has changed.
Below is the link to Larry's article.
https://www.etf.com/sections/features/1 ... ctive.html
US Large
American Century All Cap Growth
TWGTX
10.8 (10 year 5/13) 11.10 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Equity Growth
AMEIX
8.1 (10 year 5/13) 8.37 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Growth
TWGIX
7.9 (10 year 5/13) 9.62 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Select
TWSIX
6.0 (10 year 5/13) 8.55 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Ultra
TWUIX
6.3 (10 year 5/13) 9.14 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Average American Century US Large
7.8 (10 year 5/13) 9.35 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA US Large Company
DFUSX
7.6 (10 year 5/13) 8.68 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard 500 Index
VFISX replaced with VINIX Vanguard Institutional Index Institutional
7.5 (10 year 5/13) 8.69 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Growth Index Admiral (not in Larry's original analysis).
VIGAX 9.51 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
US Large Value
American Century Capital Value
ACPIX
6.7 (10 year 5/13) 6.62 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Equity Income
ACIIX
7.9 (10 year 5/13) 8.16(15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Income & Growth
AMGIX
7.3 (10 year 5/13) 7.68 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Large Co Value
ALVSX
7.0 (10 year 5/13) 6.85 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Value
AVLIX
8.0 (10 year 5/13) 7.45 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Average American Century US Large Value
7.4 (10 year 5/13) 7.35 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA US Large Cap Value III
DFUVX
9.5 (10 year 5/13) 8.65 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Value Index
VVIAX
7.9 (10 year 5/13) 8.31 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
US Mid-Cap Growth (added, not part of Larry's original analysis)
American Heritage Institutional
ATHIX
11.35 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Investor
VMGRX
9.75 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
US Small
American Century New Opps
TWNOX
8.7 (10 year 5/13) note: combined into American Century Small Cap Growth
American Century Small Cap Growth
ANOIX
10.8 (10 year 5/13) 9.06 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Small Company
ASCQX
9.2 (10 year 5/13) 6.59 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Average American Century US Small
9.6 (10 year 5/13) 7.82 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA US Small Cap I
DFSTX
10.9 (10 year 5/13) 8.68 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Small Cap Index
VSCIX
11.3 (10 year 5/13) 9.50 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
US Small Value
American Century Small Cap Value
ACVIX
11.1 (10 year 5/13) 9.17 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA US Small Cap Value I
DFSVX
11.7 (10 year 5/13) 7.80 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Small Cap Value Index
VISVX
10.5 (10 year 5/13) 8.81 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Real Estate
American Century Real Estate
REAIX
10.8 (10 year 5/13) 8.75 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA Real Estate Securities I
DFREX
11.1(10 year 5/13) 9.38 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard REIT Index
VGSLX
11.4(10 year 5/13) 9.30 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
US Bonds (added not part of Larry's original analysis).
American Century Diversified Bond Institutional
ACBPX
4.10 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Ginnie Mae Investor
BGNMX
3.47 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
American Century Inflation Protected Bond Institutional (now R5)
AIANX
3.65 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral
VBTLX
3.96 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard GNMA Admiral
VFIJX
4.06 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Investor
VIPSX
3.61 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
International Large
American Century Intl Growth
TGRIX
8.5 (10 year 5/13) 6.00 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA Large Cap International I
DFALX
8.3 (10 year 5/13) 5.40 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Developed Markets Index
VDMIX replaced by VTMGX Vanguard Developed Markets Index Admiral
8.3 (10 year 5/13) 5.53 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
International Large Value
American Century Intl Value
MEQAX
8.1 (10 year 5/13) 4.26 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA Intl Value III
DFVIX
9.9 (10 year 5/13) 5.77 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
International Small
American Century Intl Discovery
TIDIX
10.9 (10 year 5/13) recently merged into Intl Opps
American Century Intl Opps
ACIOX
15.2 (10 year 5/13) 8.71 (15 years as of 4/18/19)
Average American Century International Small
13.1 (10 year 5/13) 8.71 (15 years as of 4/18/19)
DFA Intl Small Company
DFISX
11.6 (10 year 5/13) 7.50 (15 years as of 4/18/19)
Emerging Markets
American Century Emerging Markets
AMKIX
14.2 (10 year 5/13) 7.90 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
DFA Emerging Markets
DFEMX
15.0 (10 year 5/13) 8.51 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Vanguard Emerging Markets
VEMAX replaced by VEIEX (Investor shares)
14.7 (10 year 5/13) 7.67 (15 year as of 4/18/19)
Some take aways for me. American Century has done a good job but have fallen off in
US Large Value. US Small was drug down by the American Century Small Company fund which has been dreadful. The relative performance of American Century US Small compared to DFA and Vanguard did not change much.
I added Mid-Cap Growth to Larry's analysis as American Century Heritage has been a favorite of mine for many years. Its performance vs. indexes has fallen off in recent years but it beat Vanguard's Mid-Cap Growth Fund over 15 years pretty handily. The Mid-Cap Growth Index funds from Vanguard do not have history going back 15 years.
I have high regard for their US Value team but they have hit a rough patch compared to DFA and Vanguard. Capital Value and Large Company Value are very similar funds and their performance hurt the average. Equity Income was competitive with Vanguard but even their Value fund sputtered.
Their US Large and US Small Value have done well and beaten both DFA and Vanguard.
The impressive performance by the AC US Large Growth team is impressive but looks less so when compared to the Vanguard Growth Index. You can see how dramatic the performance of Large Growth has been since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the Vanguard Large Growth Index returned 16.32% over 10 years compared to 15.19% for the S&P 500 Index and 14.16% for the Vanguard Value Index. Large Growth has been beating Large Value by 2.16% a year for a decade.
The smaller number of investable REITs and the higher American Century fees almost guarantee that AC will trail both Vanguard and DFA in the Real Estate area.
American Century is very competitive with International Stocks beating Vanguard in International Large and Emerging Markets. American Century beat DFA in the International Small arena though all of DFAs products were competitive. I have long felt that the American Century International Growth fund has been underrated and unheralded, this fund has done a good job for many years.
I also have had a high regard for the fixed income team at American Century. They have continued the fine tradition of the fixed income team that came over from the Benham Funds. 2018 wasn't a good year for this team, interest rate bets and Emerging Market bonds contributed to disappointing performance. Their Diversified Bond Fund fell to a 2 star rating with Morningstar. Their International Bond Fund has been dreadful since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, it had really good performance before then.
This is of interest to me as I have substantial investments at American Century.
A fool and his money are good for business.