As Stephen states, the journey does matter: "volatility creates a drag on compound growth rates." This means that wealth accumulation has as much to do with finding diversification opportunities as it does profit opportunities. If the returns of each portfolio constituent are equal, then the more "truly" diversified portfolio will accumulate the most wealth (greatest return) over time.

I discuss this at length throughout my book "Jackass Investing: Don't do it. Profit from it." (The Amazon Kindle #1 best-seller in the mutual fund category). I'm pleased to provide complimentary links to two of the book's chapters:

"Myth #19: Diversification Lowers Returns:" http://bit.ly/Ahj2lc
and
"Myth #20: There is No Free Lunch:" http://bit.ly/vxDo6v