In the same period, however, a select group of value mutual funds, though as a group less volatile than the overall market, has averaged returns of 11.24% a year. A hypothetical $3000 each invested in them on August 1, 2003 (if protected from taxes in trusts, IRAs, 457 plans, or 401Ks, with no withdrawals and the capital gains plus dividends reinvested), would have had a combined worth of $87,042 as of July 31, 2013. In a 30-year career, even with no further investments, such an initial outlay, if left untouched, would at that rate grow to $732,760.

There is of course no guarantee these assets will continue to do better than the market averages, and each investor is advised to do his or her own research and/or to rely of a trusted financial consultant, yet these choices each have at least three of the following factors in their favor, increasing the odds of persistently higher performance:

• Excellent fund management

• A focus on stocks with lower price to their value than most securities possess

• Low or no commissions

• Competitive fees

• An emphasis on the purchase of shares in profitable businesses with relatively low levels of debt and/or high reserves of cash.

Even if they use mutual funds, they are tempted to sell when the market is down, and they fear it will go down further, and not to buy again till the market is up, and they expect it to continue a positive trend, yet do so just as the wind is about to go out of a market's bullish sails, to mix metaphors. Thus, they succumb to a common formula for investment failure: buy high and sell low.

Investing in mutual funds with good long-term track records may not assure better than average results, yet if such assets give the investor enough confidence not to try timing the market him- or herself, they will have already given the client a powerful edge over the competition, likely assuring at least superior performance relative to those who attempt to trade in and out based on how they feel at different stages of the market cycle.