Today let's look at @AssetMazi , a South African manager. I am taking four of their funds, because between them they teach something worth understanding. All figures net of fees. The Mazi BCI Africa Equity Fund, invested across Africa outside South Africa, returned 44.12% over the past year against a benchmark of 18.25%. Over three years 12.21% against 11.36%, over five years 14.62% against 10.74%. It beats its benchmark everywhere. The holdings are a different market to what most of us own, Commercial International Bank in Egypt, Equity Group and KCB in Kenya, Safaricom, MTN Ghana, Zenith Bank. The trade-off is volatility, with a worst three-year drawdown of minus 24.78%. The Mazi BCI Equity Fund tells the opposite story. Over the past year it returned 25.91% against the Capped All Share at 26.61%. Over three years 17.25% against 20.83%. Over ten years 6.73% against 10.05%. A strong-looking year, and still behind the index at every interval. The ten-year gap is the one that matters, because over a decade that difference compounds into a lot of money. Then two funds that are really one strategy. The Mazi BCI Global Equity Feeder Fund does not pick shares at all. It invests solely into the Mazi Global Equity Fund in Ireland, run by the same manager. Same portfolio, one wrapped inside the other. The feeder is measured against the ASISA Global Equity category average, its peer group. Over one year it returned 8.25% against 9.51%. The Irish fund is measured against MSCI All Country World, the actual index. Over one year it returned 9.87% against 20.01%. Same strategy, same twelve months. On one sheet it misses its benchmark by about a point. On the other, by more than ten. The only thing that changed is the yardstick. Beating the average of other funds doing the same thing is not the same as beating the market. This is not financial advice, just something to think about. @Fetsi1452