There have been quite a few things to celebrate recently.
Though it’s still largely funded by the active investment industry, the financial media - in the UK and elsewhere - continues to show increasing signs of scepticism about the ability of active fund managers to outperform the market consistently after costs. Much as we’d prefer action to words, Pensions Minister Steve Webb continues to make positive noises about the need for clearer and fairer fund charges. And few were happier than we were when Professor Gene Fama, whose research has been a constant thorn in the side of proponents of active management for decades, was finally recognised by the Nobel Committee.
We have, though, just notched up a small, but significant achievement of our own. YouTube has just confirmed that our videos - we now have 115 videos online - have been viewed more than 100,000 times. On its own, the full-length version of our documentary Passive Investing: The Evidence, has been viewed 52,632 times at the time of writing - a testament to the fact that, for all we hear about the tiny attention spans the digital generation has, there are many people who will watch longer-form videos if the content is relevant and engaging.
But the purpose of this post is not to blow our own trumpet. Instead we want to thank you, the viewers for watching. Thank you, as well, for all your comments, and especially for sharing our content with others. SensibleInvesting.TV is an independent website, committed to giving investors the information they need to make better decisions, and we rely on the goodwill and support of like-minded people everywhere.
Of course, the big fund managers, with their huge PR, marketing and advertising budgets, still hold the upper hand in the battle for the hearts and minds of investors. But if our videos mean that more people are starting to question the myths the investment industry is based on, to enjoy a better investment experience and, ultimately, to keep more of the returns their hard-earning savings produce for themselves, our efforts will have been worth it.
So, thank you. Keep watching. Keep commenting. And, most of all, keep sharing. Together we really can improve the investment industry - one video view at a time.
Image copyright: Ged Carroll/flickr