• how the claims of active fund managers to be able to beat the market are largely a myth
• how costs are the biggest drag on performance - and why active costs more
• how passive investing offers the best experience for the vast majority of investors
• the benefits of a diversified portfolio in guaranteeing consistent returns
• why passive investing is better for your health
• why active investing has held sway for so many years....
• ... but why things may be changing
• and why passive is the rational, mathematically proven route to investing success.

They claim to be experts at making our making grow, using their expert knowledge to pick the shares that will outperform the market.

But all too often the returns they produce are considerably lower than the average return of a benchmark index like the FTSE 100 - or the S&P 500 in the States.

For veteran investment guru John Bogle, the problem is simple. Fund managers just aren't as smart as they like to think they are.

As it means trading against the view of numerous market participants with superior information, buying or selling a security is effectively just a bet. So, whilst your fund manager might lead you to believe it's his knowledge or intelligence that enables you to beat the market, he's really no better than a gambler.

So, you might be lucky enough to choose the right fund manager. But you could just as easily pick the wrong one.

According to the financial services company Bestinvest, there are currently nearly �10 billion of UK investors' money languishing in what it calls dog funds - in other words, funds which have underperperformed their benchmark index for at least three consecutive years.

Ultimately, of course, fund managers are businesses. They exist to make money for themselves. They want our business - even if it means persuading us to invest in a fund which they themselves wouldn't want to put their own money in.