<prompt> Human: Ive been following the rpersonalfinance sidebar advice by putting all of my 401k contributions into a vanguard target date fund. However, the index fund buzz is starting to get to me, and I looked up the available funds for my plan to see what was out there. I noticed that the mid-cap index fund seemed to be out-performing my target date by a lot. Like, 0.10 vs 2.02.Is there a reason why I shouldnt just move my available balance and contributions into the index fund? For example, will the index fund require a prohibitive amount of maintenance on my part? Thanks in advance!PS I owe this sub a lot of gratitude for giving me some tools to pull myself out of debt, and into a place where I get to actively manage any kind of retirement money, so also thanks for that!Assistant: The Target Dates funds recommended on this sub are comprised of several index funds - a domestic stock, international stock, and bond fund usually. As any given time one sector of the market will be doing better than another. The purpose of a target fund is to be broadly diversified so you capture the upside and mitigate downside as those sector performances change.The fact that you identified a sector that has recently performed better is in no way an indicator it will continue to do so. Changing your allocation based on historic return will leave you always one step behind. Active managment is exactly what you shouldnt be doing.Human: You know, Im starting to see that I posted here in hopes that someone would talk me out of a bad impulse. This response and other are effectively doing that.Out of curiosity, how are you supposed to get ahead of the market? It seems like as soon as word gets out that some sector is performing well, its already too late to fully capitalize on it.  <response>: Youre not supposed to get ahead of the market. The goal should be to obtain market returns for the lowest possible fees. The market itself beats inflation over the long-time, which is the important reason for investing.The only people who should be trying to beat the market are people for whom that is their job and they are paid to do so. Note, many of these people still fail at this goal. 