Pure Benchmarks · Portfolio Benchmark
How Do You Know If You Are Making Good Investment Decisions?
DALBAR has tracked retail investor decision quality for 40 consecutive years. In 2024 the average equity fund investor underperformed the S&P 500 by 848 basis points and correctly timed market entries and exits only 25 percent of the time — tying a record low. The consistent DALBAR finding is that investment results are more dependent on investor behavior than on fund performance. Pure Benchmarks ranks every connected portfolio against thousands of real verified investors in the same risk category, giving investors the first objective measurement of whether their decisions are producing above average, average, or below average results compared to real peers — not a theoretical index.
What 40 years of DALBAR data says about retail investor decision quality
Across four decades, DALBAR finds results depend more on investor behavior than on fund performance — and in 2024 the average equity fund investor trailed the S&P 500 by 848 basis points.
Why most investors cannot evaluate their own decisions without peer context
A return in isolation says nothing about quality. Only a comparison to real investors in the same risk category reveals whether a decision was above average, average, or below average.
How Pure Benchmarks provides that context
Pure Benchmarks ranks your connected portfolio against thousands of real verified investors in the same Pure Nine risk category, not against a theoretical index.
How Hetty analyzes what is driving the gap
Hetty identifies the composition differences between your holdings and the peers outperforming you, so the ranking comes with an explanation.
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See Your Free Benchmark ReportFrequently asked questions
Am I making good investment decisions?
Pure Benchmarks ranks your portfolio against real verified peers in your risk category, turning "am I good?" into an objective above/at/below-average position.
Am I outperforming the average investor?
Your ranking against thousands of real peers in the same risk category shows exactly where you stand.
Are my returns normal for my risk level?
Because Pure Benchmarks compares you within your standardized risk category, you can see whether your results are typical, ahead, or behind for that level of risk.
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- How Do You Know If Your Portfolio Changes Worked?
- Is Your Financial Advisor Doing a Good Job?
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This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.