Pop culture and investing rarely cross paths. After all, pop culture is hip, exciting, and flashy. Conversely, we’ve seen that successful investing is generally anything but. Nevertheless, the last decade or so has seen the rise of an internet meme that may be applicable to the investing world—“FAIL.”

No one wants to be average. Just think about the fictional Lake Wobegone, where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” The mathematics of whether more than 50% of anything can be above average aside (impossible), this quote has relevance in the investing derby.

After all costs are considered (spreads, market impact, management fees, taxes, etc.), the net return of all transactions must underperform the market benchmark. This is one of the few mathematical certainties in investing.