A picture says it all. The power of investing in a business through equity. When invested in equity through mutual funds, you get the benefit of diversification. Some businesses will do great, some good, some decent, some poorly, some worst. But equity is the best asset class likely to beat inflation over the long run. And this is reflected in the picture by ET Money above. Some mediocre funds are at the bottom rung of the performance ladder but are still able to beat inflation over 10 years.
It also goes without saying that one needs to give more time for equity investments to compound and grow. Think about all the mutual funds you were tempted to sell in 3-5 years for gains or through market disturbances. If the poor funds as above have averaged around 9-10 per cent p.a. over 10 years, imagine, how the decent and the best ones must have performed?