Portfolio performance or performance art?

Last week, I went through a report explaining someone’s "proprietary multi-factor risk-adjusted alpha generation strategy." Pages of charts and Greek letters and many, many references to "dynamic rebalancing protocols." I didn’t delve into the details, but as far as I could figure out, the strategy amounted to buying good companies when they were cheap and selling them when they were expensive. The rest was packaging. This episode symbolises something I've been noticing across the investment industry. We've created an elaborate performance where complexity masquerades as competence, and everyone involved knows it's mostly a show. The fund manager knows their fancy methodology is largely a marketing ploy. The relationship managers realise they're basically smooth-talking email forwarders. The research analyst knows that the 12-page report could have been summarised in two sentences. Yet everyone keeps performing because the drama must go on; otherwise, the theatre will shut down. It all feels tremendously important. Bu

This article was originally published on October 06, 2025.