And what about S&P500 being in effect an actively managed fund, too, and sloppily managed to boot?

So what? It *still* does better than the majority of all actively managed mutual funds each year...

If the people doing the company choices for the S&P500 are so bad at running their index, why do most professionals fail to do a better job?

And you seem to have ignored my statement about preferring the total stock market which is not managed at all.

Select a good fund or select a good investment professional to manage your money for you if you don't care to get involved yourself.

I do...it is called VTSMX. It beats the majority of managed mutual funds each year.

$200,000 is enough money to attract a capable money manager, for instance, in managed futures. A capable commodity trader can generate returns far superior to those that you get by being invested in a fund indexed to whatever stock index you care about.

Personally, I say that is BS. Rarely are my best interests the same as the trader's best interests. Only in the cases where they are the same will I be better off with the trader. In the other cases, I will not get the best results.

There are a lot of options out there if you have enough money to invest, and these boards is not the place to get a good advice, anyway. Just like you talk to a lawyer when you have a legal problem, you should talk to a professional if you are not an expert in this area. Unfortunately, the folks here usually are not aware what all these options are.

You said it... I have read many posts from you in the past that I thought were quite valuable. On this topic, however, I think you are way off base.

If you feel better using a commodities trader, more power to you. I hope it works out for you. I certainly will not be taking that route in the near future and I won't be recommending that approach anytime soon...

ACME