In the author’s sample of pooled pension funds, there were only four cases in which a fund outperformed the market in four straight years. The smallest funds tended to perform the worst, realizing returns well below both the average fund in the sample and the market.

There was no statistically significant relationship between the number of issues held and the rate of return. Apparently the more concentrated portfolios were not concentrated in better performing securities. On the other hand, there was an inverse relationship between the level of fund turnover and performance. The larger banks, with greater research expenditures and higher turnover rates, performed worse than their smaller counterparts.

The author concludes that most of the institutions in his sample should concentrate on portfolio objectives and strategy, rather than security analysis and trading.