Reading the investing advice on MMM boglehead etc is great to help people open their eyes, but a lot of people still have no idea what they are doing. I can't tell you how many 50 year olds come to me with everything in S&P 500 index. When I bring up things like diversity, they scream "well NOTHING can beat the market!" to which my response is..."which market?"
They have been given snippets of truth without being given the responsibility to truly understand investing and long term strategies.
On the same token, this subreddit and others will tell you managed accounts are ALWAYS evil. I agree they are unnecessary for really anyone that has a base level of understanding and enjoys doing this on their own. There are people who having that relationship will be the only way they stay in the market, as they have to talk to someone to get out. It's their only hope that with the next market crash they won't jump ship and never come back, and at this point is more about a relationship than it is about account management. People on here act like EVERYONE is just as interested and passionate about their money and making sure it's doing the right thing as this community is, the truth is that 95% of the people I talk to have no idea what they are doing and don't want to learn.
Another things I've learned is THERE ARE certain investment strategies that would give you potential to beat the market. I have a lot of friends and coworkers who retired early (well, in their 50s) and taught me a lot about sector investing. It's not something I'm willing to do, because it takes a ton of research and knowledge and should very much be thought of like another job, but it is logical and by no mean a 'get rich quick' strategy. But there's always a potential that, if done right, you can increase your returns by 1-2%.
That is all to say that--if I hadn't gone down the career path I had, I wouldn't resonate with this post quite as much. I am someone who, as time has gone on, has found it very easy to start falling into dogmas and replacing my beliefs with communities or leaders, so I know the danger well. I was JUST thinking about this after the lending club fiasco and I remembered MMM giving his 'experience' such positive reviews. I always wondered if that was a sponsored post or not. People on here quote him like the bible, which is potentially terrifying.