Who is laughing all the way to the bank......SURPRISE, it's the bank and not you!

Please clarify what you are saying and how to resolve it.

Badger,  Clarification needed, no problem !   What I am trying to highlight here is that most of the investment funds promoted by banks or financial institutions, or even portfolios managed by quite a number of advisers or discretionary managed by investment groups, are not based on the principles of maximum return for the end customer, but maximum profit for the institution. How do they do this?  Well in most investments, particularly actively managed, the marketing is around the fact that it can out perform the rest of the market and its investment fund peers.  But the reality is that most investments can't.  In fact research shows, going back to 1954, that rarely do managers out perform their benchmarks or peers, and if they do it is for such a short space of time that it makes no difference in the long term, but costs a lot more. The reason for this under performance is the very structure of the investment in the first place.  It is actively managed.  In other words, the investment can generate high levels of costs (chargeable to you the customer)  just by moving things around on a regular basis.  Add to that the commissions they earn for doing the same thing and trading costs (a subject for another time), then the returns you receive are substantially less than might otherwise be in something low cost according to your own life and needs rather than a well marketed and seemingly trendy or attractive investment. Some examples of investments that employ these strategies are absolute return funds, market neutral strategies, multi manager, fund of funds, structured products and capital guaranteed products. What you might prefer to look at are index trackers and exchange traded funds.  They offer a low cost approach to investing without all the glamour.  Add to that a bit of strategic asset allocation.  In other words, spreading your investment risk and using diversification as your safety net and hey presto a portfolio that works and doesn't cost you a fortune. More money back to you the customer.  It is a little more complicated than I make it sound, but that is my work.  If you need more clarification then don't hesitate to make another post and I will try and simply things for you to help you and other readers make better financial decisions for the future.  Unless you are doing it already! ;0)