India demonstrated explosive growth in 2005. It's one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. It's a very exciting time for the Indian consumer. They now have a growing array of choices at retail and have a lot of spending power, which is the result of entrepreneurship that has been unleashed. |
Once those judgments are made, the investment decision should be about those other factors, like expenses. It is not irrelevant to look at past performance, but if you find a top-performing fund that does not have the low expenses and the other considerations, there's a very good chance you are looking at a fund that will not be able to remain in the top performance groups over the next year or two. |
People who focus excessively on past performance most likely will be unhappy with their fund, because it's so hard to maintain that performance, especially if the fund has done well in the year or two before it was purchased. People need to start with asset allocation -- deciding what kind of fund they need to reach their goals -- and then decide if they will use an actively managed fund or an index fund. |