It’s official: 2014 will be yet another year of economic improvement. The United States is set to fare better than most, with key economists, such as Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President and former University of Rochester School of Business Administration Dean Charles I. Plosser, and JP Morgan Chase’s senior economist James E. Glassman, assuring the American people that jobless numbers are set to decrease, real growth will increase, and the prices of housing and stocks will grow throughout the year. For 2014, Plosser estimates 3% growth and a welcome drop in unemployment rates to approximately 6.2%. Both show improvement over the 2.8% growth and noticeable drop to 7% unemployment the U.S. economy saw in 2013.

With signs that the economy in the States might finally be returning back to pre-2008 powerhouse status, many of the same practices that led to the economic downturn are rearing their ugly heads. Brokerage firms are again offering a select number of free trades and other gimmicks, hoping to lure in Americans wanting to plan for their futures through stock investments. After all, who couldn’t benefit from a considerable number of free investment trades? Unfortunately, many of these firms are offering investment options, namely mutual funds, that have less than stellar success rates.

Finding a way to make money off of investments is understandably an alluring endeavor. However, you need to consider investing in a way that doesn’t offer more risk than rewards, a concept that even professional money managers are struggling to wrap their heads around. Consider, 50% of the best paid stock brokers on Wall Street fail to beat the returns offered by Standard & Poor’s 500. Frankly, with a 50-50 chance that you’re going to lose your investment, there just isn’t enough reward to go along with the risk these firms want you to take.

“The economy is on firmer footing than it has been for a number of years,” states Philadelphia Fed President Plosser. In truth, there has been no better time in the last five years to make an investment. However, risking money on volatile mutual funds when there are safer, proven ways to find investment success, like S&P 500 exchange-traded funds, is not the way to do it. Investors looking to benefit from the markets in 2014 and enjoy the revivified economy to its fullest have to avoid the mistakes of the past.