I don't think we'll come to agreement. There are bad FA's out there. Your wife got bad advice, and bad advice is out there. I certainly agree that a lot of FAs are meatsticks who should be locked away.
But I think our dissonance comes from a place you might not expect. I view the prime contribution of a financial advisor to be the construction and adherence to a financial plan with clearly stated assumptions and goals.
I don't think most investors can do this on their own, and I don't think reading "A random walk down wall street" will help them.
Personal investors are poorly served by a mentality which suggests aiming for the highest total return is their goal. They should instead seek to generate a return which will provide for their needs.
But I think our dissonance comes from a place you might not expect. I view the prime contribution of a financial advisor to be the construction and adherence to a financial plan with clearly stated assumptions and goals.
I don't think most investors can do this on their own, and I don't think reading "A random walk down wall street" will help them.
Personal investors are poorly served by a mentality which suggests aiming for the highest total return is their goal. They should instead seek to generate a return which will provide for their needs.
Also, equal weight indexes tend to broadly outperform cap-weighted indexes, fyi.