So the consumer is winning by getting cheaper and better, more differentiated product with good academic grounding and not the sleaze from Wall Street where they’re telling you: “We’ve got this Black Box, and we’re smarter than everybody else and we can pick stuff.”
This is worst of times for them because they’re getting squeezed out, and all they’ve got left is 1) the ignorance of consumers and the hope that they can keep them ignorant; and 2) on the higher net worth side, what in my experience is mostly ego-driven investing. These high net worth individuals want to be members of this special club that’s entitled to the “Goldman Sachs Treatment.” They think they’re getting access to the smartest guys in the room that the Hoi Polloi doesn’t have access to. But of course, these high-net people get the biggest screwing of all.
