This article orginally appeared in the National Post, April 12, 2014. To see the original, click here.

The market continues to bounce around and cause stress for individual investors, so it's a good time to answer more of their most pressing questions.

Here are five topics that have concerned investors recently.

Why do my mutual funds perform so … averagely?

We are not going to focus on fees this time, but, of course, they are a big reason for fund underperformance. One other big reason for average (or worse) fund performance is conservatism.

A large (insert name of bank) Canadian equity fund does not really want to make you money. It wants to keep your money. In order to keep more of your money inside a mutual fund, the fund plays it extremely safe.

Most investors will not take their money out of a fund unless it is really, really underperforming. So managers buy all the nice, big, safe companies and, at best, get index performance. Your money stays with the fund, the bank continues to take fees, and no one is worse off — except the value of your portfolio.

True story: I once had a boss chastise me because my mutual fund was doing "too well." He was worried money would exit the fund on profit taking, and that I was setting investors’ expectations too high. You can’t make this stuff up.

Are stock markets rigged?

There was lots of chatter following the release of Michael Lewis's Flash Boys, which outlined how high-frequency-trading (HFT) rigs the market, and leaves investors at a disadvantage. It was picked up by lots of media and, likely, sold lots of books.

HFT may not be the best thing for the market, but you really shouldn’t worry about it unless you are a day trader.

It may not be fair, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, all stock-market transactions are still voluntary and no one is forcing the parties involved into HFT. Second, HFT cannot really impact company fundamentals. If a company does well, its stock is still going to go up, with or without HFT.

Do I sell in May and go away?

Investors fret every year at this time of year about whether they should just sit out the summer, because it is "always" bad. Except when it’s not. Like last year.

If you consider taxes, bid-ask spreads, lost dividends and the chance of being, um, completely wrong, trying to time a four-month move in the market simply doesn't make sense. But every year investors think they can outsmart the rest of the world.

The only true benefit of selling in May and going away is that, maybe, you can have a more relaxing summer, since you won't be worrying about the markets. But we have found that most investors still worry about what they might be missing out on, so you may as well stay in.

Should I buy a marijuana stock?

Canada's first public company in the marijuana industry, Tweed Inc. (TWD/TSX-V), recently listed. In its first day of trading, it rose and traded nine million shares. It rose 39% on its second day of trading and is now worth more than $100-million.

Another company, Green Swan Capital Corp. (GSW/TSX-V) simply announced that “effective immediately, it will identify international medical and non-medical marijuana and hemp opportunities,” causing its stock to pop as well (now up 400% on the year).

It is an interesting sector, but the media frenzy has created a bubble. Too many investors are chasing too few stocks with too little in real revenue at this point.

If the industry is successful, we think tobacco companies will quickly get involved, leaving some of the smaller companies in the dust. These stocks may still go up, but don’t say we didn’t warn you if they don’t.

When will there be a market correction?

If you are a biotech or tech investor, you have already seen one. The biotech space, in particular, has been hit hard over the past month. Sector stocks have dropped 50% on no news. Wednesday saw a big relief rally, with benign U.S. Federal Reserve comments.

A correction is always a worry for investors. But, going back to our summer trading note, no one can accurately predict one. Just hold good companies and diversify, and you will be okay.

Right now, at least, with U.S. markets at record highs, every single correction has been recovered. Caution is always advised, but it is not something to fret about.