Other everyday investors have followed in their footsteps, taking small amounts of money and investing it for the long term to amass tremendous wealth. Compare All. A superior stock or fund picker can overcome the natural advantages of asset allocation , but sustained performance requires considerable time and effort for research, signal generation, and aggressive position management. For example, if a business in the retail space has projected significant growth, it may need to add new stores, increase its human capital, or make other changes to meet those goals.