100% of South African fund managers fell behind the global investing benchmark over the last 10 years*
Yet 90% of all money is invested in these losing funds, why?
A 10 minute read that will change your investing life.
* Based on SPIVA 2024 data comparing South African global stock funds against Standard & Poor's (S&P) international benchmark.Understanding LENS Investing
In South Africa, most investment money still goes into active funds. These are managed by people who try to pick winning shares in an attempt to beat the market. While this can sound appealing, the evidence shows that they rarely outperform the market after fees.
Passive funds take a different approach: instead of trying to beat the market, they aim to match it. They track an index that represents the market and hold all the companies in it in proportion to their market value, at a low cost. This may sound too simple to work, but the evidence we will show proves that after fees and over time, passive funds consistently outperform the active funds that try to beat the market.
At LENS Investing, we focus on stock funds, also called equities. Our mission is to help investors see investing clearly through the LENS framework:
Logic – understanding what investing really means and how funds work.
Evidence – showing the data on why active funds underperform.
Numbers – explaining the results, and why they will continue to underperform.
Strategy – bringing it all together into a clear long-term approach.
By looking through the LENS of Logic, Evidence, Numbers, and Strategy, we show why passive investing provides the strongest investment choice for long-term success.
“We are a financial education website with nothing to sell, dedicated to giving you logic, evidence, numbers, and strategy to help you invest with clarity.”
LENS Investing
How to Navigate the LENS website
For the best understanding, we recommend moving through the pages in order.
LENS is built with four main pages: Logic, Evidence, Numbers, and Strategy.
Page 1: Logic
The foundation of investing. Here you will learn what investing means, what stocks and funds are, and the difference between active and passive investing.
Page 2: Evidence
The facts and data. This section shows how active funds have performed compared to passive funds, both in South Africa and globally.
Page 3: Numbers
The explanation behind the results. We show how fees, trading, and market math compound over time, making lasting outperformance unlikely.
Page 4: Strategy
Bringing it all together. Here you’ll see how logic, evidence, and numbers form a clear long-term investment strategy.