I have been considering whether to buy an LIC or and ETF to leverage into small caps. Pro's of LIC is that if you get a gun fund manager you will outperform Con's are the fees and the fact that LIC's have a propensity to go to cash as one method of trying to outperform. Pro's to ETF's is that fees are substantially cheaper and remain 100% invested, but you can still decide to sell if you think the market is coming off.
Below is a comparison chart of one of the best Fund managers in town, WMI and the Vanguard Small cap ETF. Te fact that WMI have gone 40% cash in the last 4 months is almost certainly the reason for the really bad underperformance. Even well respected fund managers can call it badly....