DD Support Board and Research Team

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SHAJ: I track several smaller cap index funds: IJH, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF and IJR, the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF. Both have beaten the S&P 500 by a wide margin for the past 20 years according to their Yahoo charts. However the S&P compares somewhat better if dividends are included.

Recently I started watching IWC, the iShares Micro-cap ETF which has performed quite poorly and pays almost no dividends. Moral: For diversification, buy large cap, medium cap or perhaps small cap index funds, but not micro cap funds.

Note the past 20 years, 2008-2009 aside, was a period of great and rising prosperity. I'd expect larger caps to outperform smaller cap stocks in a depression.

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As for managed funds, some will always outperform and some will have low correlation to the S&P, but no one will be able to know the winners in advance and many of those funds will carry offsetting sky-high management fees. I'm an accredited investor. I'm not interested in hedge funds or private offerings. Many of those play to investor ego