"It was never a good idea to choose funds on the sole basis of their names. Today, however, the risk of that approach leading you to a fund that does not operate as you might expect may be greater than ever.... Indexing used to refer to low-cost, broadly diversified, market-capitalization-weighted portfolios. Actively managed portfolios could be defined as carrying higher costs, with less diversification and more risk. Today, it is overly simplistic to say that 'indexing outperforms active management,' or that index funds are 'low-cost' or 'broadly diversified.' "  MORE >>