I once worked with a mutual fund collector. She owned more than 100 mutual funds, each holding about $5,000. Her actual performance was, well, not surprisingly, average. So no major worries there. And was she well-diversified? Yes, she was.

When I started working full time, I had lots of priorities: student loans, rent, food and, of course, entertainment. Retirement savings didn’t even make the list. Then I got a job where my employer contributed fifty cents for every dollar I put into the company’s retirement plan.

It’s interesting that many of us spend a lot of time scrutinizing costs – electronics, clothes, cell phone, you name it – but don’t have a clue what we spend on our investments. It’s not that we don’t care but rather that it can be hard to understand; harder than, say, just looking at performance.

I’ve highlighted the importance of knowing about fees in investing. But it’s usually an investment’s past performance that grabs our attention. What’s surprising is how little past performance may have to do with future performance.

The stock market has rebounded strongly in the last two years but the last decade overall seems like mostly bad news

Should you consider your personal ethics when choosing companies to invest in just like you might be choosy about which stores you frequent, what foods you buy, and, heck, how you live your life in general?

I’ve stressed before the importance of fees in evaluating mutual funds. There have been numerous studies showing how a mutual fund’s expense ratio is likely to be the most important (but not only) factor you should consider.

I’m planning a vacation this summer that I would love to tell you about because…well, I digress. But you better believe I’m looking at ratings and rankings for hotels and restaurants, etc. Understandably, investors look at ratings when picking mutual funds (see, I warned you this was not really going to be about my exciting vacation). The question is…should they?

I recently highlighted socially responsible investing. It should not be confused with this disconcerting news.