Yes, he does mention index funds. He says very positive things about them throughout the book.

But then, after hammering home the importance of low expense ratios and turnover costs, he goes and recommends numerous actively managed funds throughout the book as well. (American Funds was just an example I chose–he recommends several different fund families.)

I’m just have difficulty reconciling his two ideas that:
1. Costs are of primary importance,
2. Actively managed funds (even some that aren’t particularly cheap) can be a good choice.

I can think of a few possibilities-

#1 He is so familiar with the data that he is blinded to the fact his readers don’t know it and didn’t bother to include it in the book.

#2 There is no hard data but it is such a culturally accepted fact at Morning Star that he doesn’t think data is needed to support it.

#3 Due to his personal bias he never compared active funds with index funds. Perhaps the American funds are the best of the actively managed funds? Did the book bring up index funds?

-Rick