[l2ridehd]

With some very basic research you will quickly find that in every three year period only 15% of active managed funds beat the index benchmark they measure against. That means that 85% of active managed funds fail to exceed the return of a very low cost index fund. Take the window from 3 years to 10 years and the number drops to 5%. So by selecting a fee based advisor to manage your money, you are betting that you are smart enough to find the 1 in 20 (5%) that can beat the return of a low cost index strategy.

Going the next step and determining what your risk factor really is so you can set your asset allocation correctly, spend one hour a month to review your results and re-balance as necessary, and your returns will always beat the returns of the paid advisor. The only folks who should use a financial manager and be willing to pay those onerous fees are those that do not have the discipline to determine a strategy and follow it.

If you feel you have to constantly tinker with your investments, or buy the latest hot stock your ex brother-in-law believes in, and can't stick with a "stay the course" strategy then hire an advisor.

Even the very best advisor out there will fail to deliver at some point.