Enrich Your Future 10: You Won’t Beat the Market Even the Best Funds Don’t

Listen onApple | Listen Notes | Spotify | YouTube | OtherQuick takeIn this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 16: All Crystal Balls are Cloudy.LEARNING: Estimated return is not always inevitable. “If returns are negative early on, don’t withdraw large amounts because when the market eventually recovers, you won’t have that money to earn your returns.”Larry Swedroe In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 16: All Crystal Balls are Cloudy.Chapter 16: All crystal balls are cloudyIn this chapter, Larry illustrates why past returns are not crystal balls that predict future returns.According to Larry, the problem with all forecasts that deal with estimations of probabilities is that people tend to think of them in a deterministic way. He says that as an investor, you should think about returns with the idea that distribution and estimate are only the middle points.Your plan has to be prepared for either the good tail to show up, which is easy to deal with and usually will allow you to take chips off the table and reduce your risk because you’ll be well ahead of your goal. But if the bad tail shows up, you may have to either work longer, plan on saving more, or rebalance, which means buying stocks at a tough time.The threat of sequence riskTo demonstrate the danger of sequence risk, Larry asks us to imagine it’s 1973, and stocks have returned 8% in real terms and 10% in nominal returns. We’ve had similar results over the next 50 years. Say an investor in that time frame decides to withdraw 7% yearly from their portfolio in real terms because they know with their clear crystal ball that they will get 8% for the next 50 years.This means if they take out, say, $100,000 in the first year, and inflation is 3%, to keep their actual spending the same, they have to take out $103,000. According to Larry, this investor will be bankrupt within 10 years due to the sequence of returns, which is the order in which the returns occur, not the returns themselves.As you can see in the table below, despite providing an 8.7% per annum real return over the 27 years, because the S&P 500 Index declined by more than 37% from January 1973 through December 1974, withdrawing an inflation-adjusted 7% per annum in the portfolio caused it to be depleted by the end of 1982—in just 10 years! (Note that from January 1973 through October 1974, when the bear market ended, the...

BIO: Damon Pistulka, co-founder of Exit Your Way, is known for his hands-on, practical approach to helping business owners maximize value and achieve successful exits.STORY: Damon explains his journey into understanding technology and its role in business growth.LEARNING: Stay informed and adapt to changing industry trends. Adapt to changing customer expectations and preferences. “The simple things we can do with technology today make the customer experience so much better.”Damon Pistulka Guest profileDamon Pistulka, co-founder of Exit Your Way, is known for his hands-on, practical approach to helping business owners maximize value and achieve successful exits. With over 20 years of experience, Damon is dedicated to transforming businesses, enhancing profitability, and helping founders create lasting legacies​​.Technology is your business allyIn today’s episode, Damon, who previously appeared on the podcast on episode Ep649: Be Careful of Concentration Risk, discusses the value of technology in running a business. He emphasizes the importance of robotic process automation, CRMs, and AI in modern business operations to accelerate value. In his opinion, technology allows businesses to do simple things that improve customer experience.Damon highlights a couple of threats businesses face today that could be dealt with by adopting technology.Rapid innovation is outpacing businesses. Those lagging behind will be overtaken by competitors who have adopted new technologies.Aging workforce with limited new talent. There’s an aging workforce and limited new talent. As more people retire, businesses increasingly find it hard to replace the retirees with educated and qualified people.Customers now expect top-tier service levels. Buyers are now demanding businesses provide instant feedback and real-time updates. Businesses that don’t meet customer expectations will not stay competitive.Using technology to deal with the threatsDamon explains his approach to helping clients develop business growth strategies. He emphasizes the importance of starting with small, manageable changes and gradually scaling up.Damon cautions entrepreneurs from trying to do it all. Instead, he advises starting with simple, practical changes, often referred to as ‘low-hanging fruits’—these are the tasks or opportunities that are the easiest to achieve and provide the quickest benefits. Gradually, as these are implemented, more complex systems can be adopted.Seek out experts who can help you advanceFurther, Damon advises seeking out experts who can help you advance in the particular area you’re focusing on. Then, work your way up as you get your company, your people, and your supplier base comfortable with these changes.Get educated before adopting new technologyDamon also underscores the importance of getting educated before adopting new technology. He advises becoming familiar and comfortable enough with it to try it, enabling you to identify potential areas where the technology could help your business.This approach instills a sense of preparedness and confidence. Then, he suggests hiring an expert to help you implement your new technologies and strategies.Move fastAnother way to deal with the business threats is to move fast. Damon says that speed sells, and businesses must adopt a speed and...

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 15: Individual Stocks Are Riskier Than Investors Believe.LEARNING: Don’t invest in individual stocks. Instead, diversify your portfolio to reduce your risk. “Diversification has been said to be the only free lunch in investing. Unfortunately, most investors fail to use the full buffet available.”Larry Swedroe In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 15: Individual Stocks Are Riskier Than Investors Believe.Chapter 15: Individual Stocks Are Riskier Than Investors BelieveIn this chapter, Larry reveals the stark reality of investing in individual stocks, highlighting the significant risks involved. His aim is to help investors understand the potential pitfalls of this high-stakes game and why they should avoid it.Given the apparent benefits of diversification, it’s baffling why investors don’t hold highly diversified portfolios. According to Larry, one reason is that most investors likely don’t understand how risky individual stocks are compared to owning a broad selection of hundreds or thousands of stocks.Evidence that individual stocks are very riskyLarry notes that the stock market has returned roughly 10% per year over the last 100 years, and the standard deviation on an annual basis of a portfolio of a broad market of stocks has been about 20%. He observes that most people don’t understand that the average individual stock has a standard deviation of more than twice that.In another study from 1983 to 2006 that covered the top 3,000 stocks, the stock market returned almost 13% per annum, but the median return was just 5.1%, nearly 8% below the market’s return. The mean annualized return was -1.1%. This means that if you randomly pick one stock, the odds would say you’re more likely to get -1.1%. However, if you own hundreds or thousands of stocks, the odds are in your favor, and you’ll get very close to that mean return.Larry shares another stark example of the riskiness of individual stocks. Despite the 1990s being one of the greatest bull markets of all time, with the Russell 3000 providing an annualized return of 17.7% and a cumulative return of almost 410%, 22% of the 2,397 U.S. stocks in existence throughout the decade had negative absolute returns. This means they underperformed by at least 410%. Over the decade, inflation was a cumulative 33.5%, meaning they lost at least 33.5% in real terms.In another study by Hendrik Bessembinder of all common stocks listed on the NYSE, Amex, and NASDAQ exchanges from 1926 through 2015 and

BIO: Ava Benesocky is an author, public speaker, educator, CEO, and Co-Founder of CPI Capital, a uniquely innovative real estate private equity firm that helps investors invest in multifamily assets.STORY: Ava became passionate about real estate when she was young. At 15, she convinced her parents to invest $13,000 in a course by Scott McGillivray on renovating and selling homes. Ava never did anything with the course, which made it the worst investment ever.LEARNING: If you invest in anything, ensure you’re ready to be committed, take action, and focus completely on it. Beware of shiny object syndrome. “If you’re ever going to invest in something, you have to take action, or else it’s a total waste of time and money. And what’s the point?”Ava Benesocky Guest profileAva Benesocky is an author, public speaker, educator, CEO, and Co-Founder of CPI Capital, a uniquely innovative real estate private equity firm that helps investors invest in multifamily assets.She is the Host of Real Estate Investing Demystified with August Biniaz, who was Ep 784.Ava has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and numerous PodCasts and YouTube shows. Ava helps busy professionals earn passive income through Multifamily Real Estate investments.Worst investment everAva became passionate about real estate when she was young. At 15, she convinced her parents to invest $13,000 in a course by Scott McGillivray on renovating and selling homes. Ava never did anything with the course, which made it the worst investment ever.She tried to get it started, but there were so many moving components, and the process was so convoluted that she got scared. It all fell through the cracks. Ava never ended up taking action on it.Lessons learnedIf you invest in anything, ensure you’re ready to be committed, take action, and focus completely on it.Beware of shiny object syndrome.Andrew’s takeawaysEmbrace boring, dull, consistent, and regular assets.Before buying a course, ask yourself if you have the time to commit to it or if it is better to get someone to help you achieve what you could if you took the course.Actionable adviceRefrain from being impulsive when buying courses. Take your time and ask yourself if you have time for it. Can you block it off on your calendar? If not, do not get it.Ava’s recommendationsAva recommends listening to her podcast Real Estate Investing Demystified, where she shares her personal experiences, interviews industry experts, and provides advice on real estate investing and other investment opportunities.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAva’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to continue building a couple of departments in the company and closing on a couple more assets. On a personal level, she will continue taking care of her mind, body, and family.Parting words “Thank you so much for letting me be

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 14: Stocks Are Risky No Matter How Long the Horizon.LEARNING: Stocks are risky no matter the length of your investment horizon “Investors should never take more risk than is appropriate to their personal situation.”Larry Swedroe In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 14: Stocks Are Risky No Matter How Long the Horizon.Chapter 14: Stocks Are Risky No Matter How Long the HorizonIn this chapter, Larry illustrates why stocks are risky no matter how long the investment horizon is.According to Larry, the claim that stocks are not risky if one’s horizon is long is based on just one set of data (the U.S.) for one period (albeit a long one). It could be that the results were due to a ‘lucky draw.’ In other words, if stocks are only risky when one’s horizon is short, we should see evidence of this in other markets. Unfortunately, investors in many different markets did not receive the kind of returns U.S. investors did.Historical examples of stock market risksLarry presents evidence from several markets, reinforcing the historical data that stocks are also risky over the long term.First, Larry looks at U.S. equity returns 20 years back from 1949. The S&P 500 Index had returned 3.1 percent per year, underperforming long-term government bonds by 0.8 percent per year—so much for the argument that stocks always beat bonds if the horizon is 20 years or more.In 1900, the Egyptian stock market was the fifth largest in the world, attracting significant capital inflows from global investors. However, those investors are still waiting for the return ON their capital, let alone the return OF their capital.In the 1880s, two promising countries in the Western Hemisphere received capital inflows from Europe for development purposes: the U.S. and Argentina. One group of long-term investors was well rewarded, while the other was not.Finally, in December 1989, the Nikkei index reached an intraday all-time high of 38,957. From 1990 through 2022, Japanese large-cap stocks (MSCI/Nomura) returned just 0.2 percent a year—a total return of just 6 percent. Considering cumulative inflation over the period was about 15 percent, Japanese large-cap stocks lost about 9 percent in real terms over the 33 years.Taking the risk of equity ownershipLarry notes that the most crucial lesson investors need to learn from this evidence is that while it is true that the longer your investment horizon, the greater your ability to take the risk of investing in stocks (because you have a greater ability to wait out a bear market without having to sell to raise capital), stocks are risky no matter the length of your...

BIO: Pritesh Ruparel is the CEO of ALT21, a leading tech company in hedging and currency solutions.STORY: Pritesh found a good trade and invested 100% in it. His manager later advised him to liquidate that position because it was too concentrated. A day after Pritesh liquidated, a natural disaster occurred, and the spread went from $10 to $250 in an hour.LEARNING: Put yourself in a position to get lucky. Never decide against your gut. Stay grounded between the highs and the lows.&nbsp;“The worst thing you can do is to trade on something or to make a decision that you don’t 100% agree with.”Pritesh Ruparel&nbsp;Guest profilePritesh Ruparel is the CEO of ALT21, a leading tech company in hedging and currency solutions. With two decades of expertise in financial derivatives and structured finance, he leverages technology to make financial products accessible and affordable, aiming to save small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) millions annually on international transactions.Worst investment everPritesh’s first trading role was as a market maker in commodity relatives. One summer, he put a ton of analysis into a particular commodity spread trade. Pritesh thought the risk-to-reward looked good, but the trade was not doing anything. Nobody was marking the trade. Pritesh thought this was insane, so he went all in. He had the biggest position possible in that trade and it was 100% of his portfolio.A manager advised Pritesh to liquidate the position because it was too concentrated. A day after Pritesh liquidated, a natural disaster occurred. The position benefited from this disaster and went from $10 to $250 in an hour. Unfortunately, Pritesh could have earned so much if only he had not liquidated.Lessons learnedPut yourself in a position to get lucky.When you start any role, listen, learn as much as possible, and take advice.Never decide against your gut.Never make a decision that you don’t agree with 100%.Actionable adviceStay grounded between the highs and the lows. Ultimately, you’ll be fine if you make decisions that align with what you believe in. This can give you a sense of confidence and conviction in your decisions.Pritesh’s recommendationsPritesh recommends building systems, processes, or resources that suit your risk appetite, emotional intelligence, and patience. This can enhance your decision-making and risk management, as it aligns with your personal attributes.No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsPritesh’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to have repeatable, scalable processes for his go-to-market and use that to make an impact globally.Parting words&nbsp;“Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”Pritesh Ruparel&nbsp;[spp-transcript]&nbsp;Connect with Pritesh RuparelLinkedInWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market<a href="https://amzn.to/2PDApAo" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 13: Between a Rock and a Hard Place.LEARNING: Past performance is not a strong predictor of future performance.&nbsp;“If you must invest actively, find active funds that design their strategies more intelligently to take advantage of the problems and at least avoid pitfalls.”Larry Swedroe&nbsp;In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 13: Between a Rock and a Hard Place.Chapter 13: Between a Rock and a Hard PlaceIn this chapter, Larry illustrates why past performance is not a strong predictor of future performance.Academic research has found that prominent financial advisors, investment policy committees, and pension and retirement plans engage top academic practitioners to help them identify future managers who will outperform the market. Such entities only hire managers with a track record of outperforming. They analyze their performance to see if it is statistically significant.However, research also shows that, on average, the active managers chosen based on outstanding track records have failed to live up to expectations. The underperformance relative to passive benchmarks invariably leads decision-makers to fire the active manager. And the process begins anew.A new round of due diligence is performed, and a new manager is selected to replace the poorly performing one. And, almost invariably, the process is repeated a few years later. So whenever pension plans interview Larry and he notices this hiring pattern, he always asks them what their hiring process is and what they’re doing differently this time since, you know, the same process failed persistently, causing regular turnover of managers. Nobody has ever answered that question.According to Larry, many individual investors go through the same motions of picking a manager and end up with the same results—a high likelihood of poor performance.Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is insanityLarry observes that the conventional wisdom that past performance is a strong predictor of future performance is so firmly ingrained in our culture that it seems almost no one stops to ask if it is correct, even in the face of persistent failure. Larry wonders why investors aren’t asking themselves: “If the process I used to choose a manager that would deliver outperformance failed, and I use the same process the next time, why should I expect anything but failure the next time?”The answer is painfully apparent. If you don’t do anything different, you should expect the same result. Yet, so many investors do not ask this simple question.Larry insists that it is essential to understand that neither the purveyors of active...

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 12: Outfoxing the Box.LEARNING: You don’t have to engage in active investing; instead, accept market returns by investing passively.&nbsp;“You don’t have to play the game of active investing. You don’t have to try to overcome abysmal odds—odds that make the crap tables at Las Vegas seem appealing. Instead, you can outfox the box and accept market returns by investing passively.”Larry Swedroe&nbsp;In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 12: Outfoxing the Box.Chapter 12: Outfoxing the BoxIn this chapter, Larry aims to guide investors toward a winning investment strategy: accepting market returns. He uses Bill Schultheis’s “Outfoxing the Box.” This is a simple game that you can choose to either play or not play. The box contains nine percentages, each representing a rate of return your financial assets are guaranteed to earn for the rest of your life.As an investor, you have the following choice: Accept the 10 percent rate of return in the center box or be asked to leave the room. The boxes will be shuffled around, and you will have to choose a box, not knowing what return each box holds. You quickly calculate that the average return of the other eight boxes is 10 percent.Thus, if thousands of people played the game and each chose a box, the expected average return would be the same as if they all decided not to play. Of course, some would earn a return of negative 3 percent per annum, while others would earn 23 percent. This is like the world of investing: if you choose an actively managed fund and the market returns 10 percent, you might be lucky and earn as much as 23 percent per annum, or you might be unlucky and lose 3 percent per annum. A rational risk-averse investor should logically decide to “outfox the box” and accept the average (market) return of 10 percent.In all the years Larry has been an investment advisor, whenever he presents this game to an investor, not once has an investor chosen to play. Everyone decides to accept par or 10 percent. While they might be willing to spend a dollar on a lottery ticket, they become more prudent in their choice when it comes to investing their life’s savings.Active investing is a loser’s gameActive investing is a game with low odds of success that many would consider a losing battle. It’s a game that, when compared to the ‘outfoxing the box’ game, seems like a futile endeavor. Larry’s advice is to avoid this game altogether.In the “outfoxing the box” game, the average return of all choices was the same 10 percent as the 10 percent that would have been earned by choosing not to play. And 50 percent of those choosing to play would be expected to...

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 11: The Demon of Chance.LEARNING: Don’t always attribute skill to success, sometimes it could be just luck.&nbsp;“Just because there is a correlation doesn’t mean causation. You must be careful not to attribute skill and not luck to success.”Larry Swedroe&nbsp;In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 11: The Demon of Chance.Chapter 11: The Demon of ChanceIn this chapter, Larry discusses why investors confuse skill with what he calls “the demon of luck,” a term he uses to describe the random and unpredictable nature of market outcomes.Larry cautions that before concluding that because an investment strategy worked in the past, it will work in the future, investors should be aware of the uncertainty and ask if there is a rational explanation for the correlation between the outcome and strategy.According to Larry, the assumption is that while short-term outperformance might be a matter of luck, long-term outperformance must be evidence of skill. However, a basic knowledge of statistics is crucial in understanding that with thousands of money managers playing the game, the odds are that a few, not just one, will produce a long-term performance record.Today, there are more mutual funds than there are stocks. With so many active managers trying to win, statistical theory shows that it’s expected that some will likely outperform the market. However, beating the market is a zero-sum game before expenses since someone must own all stocks. And, if some group of active managers outperforms the market, there must be another group that underperforms. Therefore, the odds of any specific active manager being successful are, at best, 50/50 (before considering the burden of higher expenses active managers must overcome to outperform a benchmark index fund).Skill or “the demon of luck?From probability, it’s expected that randomly, half the active managers would outperform in any one year, about one in four to outperform two years in a row, and one in eight to do so three years in a row. Fund managers who outperform for even three years in a row are often declared to be gurus by the financial media. But are they gurus, or is it just luck? According to Larry, it is hard to tell the difference between the two. Without this knowledge of statistics investors are likely to confuse skill with “the demon of luck.”Bill Miller, the Legg Mason Value Trust manager, was acclaimed as the next Peter Lynch. He managed to do what no current manager has done—beat the S&amp;P 500 Index 15 years in a row (1991–2005). Indeed, that could be luck. You can’t rely on that performance as a predictor of future greatness. Larry turns to academic...

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 10: When Even the Best Aren’t Likely to Win the Game.LEARNING: Refrain from the futile pursuit of trying to beat the market.&nbsp;“Only play the game of active management if you can truly identify an advantage you have, like inside information, but you have to be careful because it’s illegal to trade on it. Also, play only if you place a very high value on the entertainment.”Larry Swedroe&nbsp;In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over 30 years as the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners to help investors. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 10: When Even the Best Aren’t Likely to Win the Game.Chapter 10: When Even the Best Aren’t Likely to Win the GameIn this chapter, Larry illustrates why individual investors should refrain from the futile pursuit of trying to beat the market.It seems logical to believe that if anyone could beat the market, it would be the pension plans of the largest U.S. companies. Larry lists a few reasons this is a reasonable assumption:These pension plans control large sums of money. They have access to the best and brightest portfolio managers, each clamoring to manage the billions of dollars in these plans (and earn hefty fees). Pension plans can also invest with managers that most individuals don’t have access to because they don’t have sufficient assets to meet the minimums of these superstar managers.Pension plans always hire managers with a track record of outperforming their benchmarks or, at the very least, matching them. Not the ones with a record of underperformance.Additionally, pension plans will always choose the manager who makes an excellent presentation, explaining why they succeeded and would continue to succeed.Many, if not the majority, of these pension plans hire professional consultants such as Frank Russell, SEI, and Goldman Sachs to help them perform due diligence in interviewing, screening, and ultimately selecting the very best of the best. These consultants have considered every conceivable screen to find the best fund managers, such as performance records, management tenure, depth of staff, consistency of performance (to make sure that a long-term record is not the result of one or two lucky years), performance in bear markets, consistency of implementation of strategy, turnover, costs, etc. It is unlikely that there is something that you or your financial advisor would think of that they had not already considered.As individuals, we rarely have the luxury of personally interviewing money managers and performing as thorough a due diligence as these consultants. We generally do not have professionals helping us avoid mistakes in the process.The fees they pay for active management are typically lower than the fees individual investors...