New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- When you check a mutual fund's factsheet, you'll usually find three-year, five-year or 10-year returns. These are point-to-point figures that show the growth of the fund between two fixed dates. But while easy to read, they can be misleading. A single start or end point can distort the picture depending on whether the market was booming or crashing during those dates.

Consider this: a fund that shows 20% annualized returns over three years might have benefited from a market low three years ago. Another that shows 5% might have started from a market peak. Does that make the first fund better? Not necessarily. It just had better timing, and that is exactly what you want to avoid when picking a fund based purely on pas...