Hi,
Not necessarily a smarter or more experienced < 2c comment:
While a single data point might be interesting, it is definitely not sufficient for your broker vs roll your own decision
As others have noted, precise dates and asset allocation matter so very much. Here are 3 numbers that I could use to describe our taxable account (tax deferred did better (less international), but I don't have the consolidated numbers handy for this post):
(1) YTD 10.9% (no bonds, ~70% international).
(2) YTD 10/31 13.5% as a broker might report because that is the last formal statement and it is better than YTD number
(3) from 1/1/2011 until today is only about 0.3%. There were a number of large dips in 2011, so YTD look much better than real return for the portfolio.
From each of these % one could draw probably incorrect conclusions in that I did about the same, a bit better or a lot worse than your broker. To me, (3) Is actually the most meaningful number and I am quite content
IMHO better questions might be: What is your tolerance for risk? What is your desired allocation? What is the index return for that asset allocation? What are the relative fees (all fees - any front end loads?) of an index vs broker portfolio? What value does your broker provide?
BTW I pay for a financial planner and believe I get value but not in the sense implicit in your original post!