Ever the vigilant bitch-slapper, Warren Buffet points out that trying to “beat the market” does very little good in the aggregate and that your broker is a bit of a douche for convincing you otherwise:
A record portion of the earnings that would go in their entirety to owners— if they all just stayed in their rocking chairs— is now going to a swelling army of Helpers. Particularly expensive is the recent pandemic of profit arrangements under which Helpers receive large portions of the winnings when they are smart or lucky, and leave family members with all of the losses— and large fixed fees to boot— when the Helpers are dumb or unlucky (or occasionally crooked).