I picked a very large firm but that doesn't make it expensive. got reduced rate as i have a nice sized portfolio, circle of friends, etc. my financial consultant is actually very wealthy himself and just enjoys his job. yes, there is a fee but i am rather shocked that this is picked on so much here on this forum and asked what is is, and when i don't respond brought up. it seems as if you don't just invest your money in index funds you get slammed. my portfolio is millions of dollars and if i get worried and freak out about the market and i don't have a financial consultant to talk me out of things, i may end up as the idiot who tries to time the market unsuccessfully. plus my fc has a track record of doing substantially better than the market, have had friends who have used him for fifteen years, so I dont think that a fee is a major issue here. trust me, i know how fees from a fc can eat up performance, used a bad fc in the past. but my friends have been so happy with this one and he shielded me from some heavy losses last week, so willing to give it a shot. and this rant wasn't directed at you in particular, really just confused as to this forum's seemingly irrational promotion of index funds. i understand that mutual funds don't always have great long term track records, but i think they need to be individually researched, both their holdings and management to evaluate if the fee structure pays off or not. if a whole group of people are telling me one thing, i am not going to ignore it. i will definitely read up on why the indexers have these opinions but i think that there is not always one correct way to do things. especially now, as i am so confused by the market in general.
As an advisor, I apreciate the fact that you believe your advisor brings value.......... 
