Index funds are a great tool for building wealth, but like all tools, you have to know how to use them for them to be effective.

When you look at the massive fund flows into what is called passive funds, largely index funds, mostly Vanguard - it is clear that for some investors it's merely the flavor of the day. People will abandon these funds too, just as people are mistakenly abandoning minimum volatility now.

I think a portfolio is like a baseball team. That means players with different skills, each of which may be on a hot streak or a cold one, but in aggregate you are hoping they overbalance the opposition most of the time.

However, I struggle with benchmarking. Tbh, I kind of band my results. Upper band defaults to the div reinvested S&P500 as a compare point, because if I can match that with less risk over decades (I'm trailing by slightly less than my fund fees, woo hoo!) that's great performance. I also compare to a static 70/30 portfolio Global Equity/US Bond as a lower band. If I fall below that, then I need to think hard about my portfolio approach.