How are you different from a mutual fund?

Mutual funds can offer many advantages to many people.  Most funds tend to be very accessible in that they have low minimum initial investment requirements.  Many are widely advertised and distributed so it is easy to get information about them.  There is also an enormous variety of mutual funds that can suit virtually every investment need.

The risk that many mutual funds pose to individual investors is that they may not offer a very good value.  Many fund companies are much more oriented to the marketing and distribution part of the business and much less focused on delivering superior investment performance.  In fact, research has shown that inflows and outflows to a mutual fund can substantially impair the ability of the fund manager to outperform regardless of his or her ability.  These and other issues help explain why so few mutual funds outperform their benchmarks.