[boba]

Like Paul I have been in the market for over 40 years. During that time I have picked stocks, been in 401K's, mutual funds, managed portfolios, bond ladders, bond funds, commodities, and hedge funds. While managed funds and mutual funds can be a way to invest where one does not feel the need to watch it daily. But you still need to pay attention to what you are in. All funds have a set of parameters within which they invest, you need to know what those are. As the economy goes through its cycles those funds may be in the sweet spot or on the outs. You need to be ready to move in and out of these funds as these changes take place. So a small cap growth fund will not perform well when the market is favoring large cap consumer. My point is that however you choose to invest you need to take ownership of your investing decisions. You also need to keep track of your funds personnel, if a star has made a fund successful and then leaves for another fund this is not announced and now you no longer have the star performer.
I no longer invest in mutual funds, they will make end of period transactions to dress up their performance. These can have adverse tax consequences that you have no time to compensate for. They look good, you take a tax hit, don't need that.