Low fees and scale now dominate the investment conversation. Execution efficiency has become an industry mantra. But in the race to optimise costs and standardise processes, a harder question is often ignored: what returns are being left behind?
The most meaningful returns are rarely found where capital flows easily. They emerge in complexity and illiquidity — in areas that demand patience, judgment, and specialised expertise.
When cost becomes the primary filter, investors risk optimising away the very premia that drive long-term performance. Low cost is not synonymous with opportunity.
Scale clearly offers advantages: wider access, lower transaction costs, and more standardised processes. Yet the same characteristics that make scale attractive can also create a blind spot. The most compelling sources of return — illiquidity premia, structural inefficiencies, and complex strategies — rarely lend themselves to mass production. By definition, they resist commoditisation.
This leaves investors facing a critical balancing act: how to reconcile the comfort of efficiency and the skill required to pursue returns that exist only in the less scalable corners of the market.
At the end of the day, it comes down to a simple question:
Are you harvesting low-cost beta — or cultivating long-term, high-quality alpha?
