Investment funds are basically a good source of income for the banks, not for you. The costs of direct share trading are so much lower and that doesn't require much expertise either.
You don't really have to be an in-depth knowledgeable investor: in the LONG term (10+ years), the one thing that matters the most (some would say it's the only thing) is diversification of your portfolio. Spread your investments over different companies, different industries, different geographical areas, different currencies. If you aren't a professional, don't try to over-analyze: even of the professional "fundamental analysts" that try to second-guess the market by looking at things other than just the share price, 60% perform WORSE than the market average (with pure guesswork, 50% would do better and 50% worse).
Be patient. Keep your cool and don't sell even if everyone else panics - always after a market crash, more billionaires are made than at any other time, because smart investors know to buy when stocks are cheap when sheepies throw away their stocks. "Only buy, don't sell." (Old Swedish Finnish proverb, and they still own a disproportionate amount of Finnish share market, so they must have done something right.)
Don't invest into anything you don't understand. If it sounds too good to be true it most certainly is. If you absolutely must insist on looking at the figures, look for companies with consistently high dividend percentage, or alternatively, companies with low P/B ratio (share Price versus Book value of company assets in accounting) - usually, these "value shares" are undervalued by the market and/or about to make a turnaround so in the long run will give a better yield. (So sayeth Warren Buffet and look where it got him.)
Nowadays, them banks try to sell you all these "ethical investment funds" or "welfare funds" because those are in fashion right now. Bah humbug. If you - like me - are not looking to make a world a better place, then go for a "malfare fund" (not available, so build your own portfolio). Weapons. Security services. Alcohol. Tobacco may be a bit high-risk investment, but then again, if the legalization of marijuana proceeds as it seems, tobacco companies will be the first to jump onto the bandwagon. Porn may be a sunset business due to the Internet, but sex shops, strip clubs, and the like, they are not. There is actual, scientifically accepted proof that this kind of portfolio makes profit far in excess of any "ethical" fund. But this may sound kinda narrow in scope, so how to diversify? Ah-ha! Company doing business unethically or protested against has most likely its shares undervalued, so investing in one is again more profitable than in an "ethical" company.
But all these are long-term strategies. Seeking for short-term profits? Buy lottery tickets instead. Short-term return of a stock is pure chance, no matter how may times you would have seen the classic Wall Street and its awful sequel. The best example is an investor contest a reputable Finnish economy magazine held a little while back. Several analysts and fund managers tried to outdo each other.... but a "mystery investor" led the competition until the last week, when a high-risk portfolio barely managed to pass him (and next week, he would have been in the lead again). The mystery investor was none else than Repe, the alpha male of the pack of baboons in the nearest zoo, who had been "choosing" investments from pieces of paper given to him. OOK-OOK-OOK!