Chasing returns is big business. The financial media continually perpetuates the desire, and the need, to pick “the next Apple” or “the next five-star mutual fund.”

But unfortunately, chasing the next high flyer has been shown to be a fool’s errand. In a Wall Street Journal article titled “Investors Caught with Stars in Their Eyes,” the newspaper went back to 1999 and studied the 10-year subsequent returns of those who bought five-star funds. What did they find? “Of the 248 mutual funds with five-star ratings at the start of the period, just four still kept that rank after 10 years.” I guess fund managers mean it very literally when they say “past performance is not indicative of future results!”

So just how do you create better performance in your retirement accounts if predicting the future is not your gift? Eliminate excessive fees.