Activawaarde

Activawaarde is a term used in asset management to describe the portion of a portfolio’s return that can be attributed to active investment decisions rather than to broad market movements. It is often framed as the value added by active management, as opposed to passive exposure to an index.

In practice, activawaarde is estimated through performance attribution. The portfolio’s active return equals the portfolio return minus the chosen benchmark return. Activawaarde is then the net value added after accounting for all costs associated with active management, such as management fees and trading costs. The result reflects how much of the performance difference is due to security selection, market timing, and other active decisions, after expenses are considered.

Uses and interpretation: activawaarde is commonly reported by asset managers to illustrate the effectiveness of their active strategies. It informs clients about value added beyond the benchmark and can influence performance-fee structures. It is also used in risk budgeting to separate active bets from passive exposures.

Limitations: measuring activawaarde depends on the benchmark choice and the attribution method, and one should be cautious about overemphasizing short-term results. Persistence of positive activawaarde is widely debated, and high costs or poor benchmark alignment can erase apparent gains.

Example: if a fund has a benchmark return of 5% and the fund returns 7%, the active return is 2%. If management fees and trading costs total 0.7%, the activawaarde net is 1.3%.

See also: active management, performance attribution, benchmark, risk-adjusted return.