Placing funds for longterm

I have been looking into options for placing funds that would otherwise be in a standard bank account. An index ETF might be good - after all rather few mutual funds actually beat the market. I have looked into Apex Futures and their automated systems, but those seem to have a hard time beating their respective markets too. I could seem as though the only way to beat the market without trading yourself would be to find some private/smaller trader willing to manage some extra funds.

Anyone else have some thoughts on this?

Placing funds for longterm