Financial experts routinely advise ordinary fund investors to focus on fees and remember past performance is no guide to future performance. Are investors listening? Yes and no, according to a recent US investor survey.

The good news: fund investors are more cost-conscious, with 78 per cent considering fees and expenses to be important. The bad news: their number one criterion is the fund’s historical performance. About nine in 10 consider common performance measures when selecting a fund. In contrast, investors paid little attention to fund rating services.

One would think we would take the time to make an informed decision when it comes to our financial future, says investment strategist and blogger Joachim Klement. “Yet, what we do instead is log into our pension fund admin website, select a few funds during our lunch break and then let these 15 minutes decide our life.”