Many asset management firms have one or more conflicts of interest which can actually cause the firm to be in conflict with its clients.  Examples of this problem include:

1. The fund manager is beholden to the fund company’s stockholders, and must by definition put their interests ahead of all others.  An independent, fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) like 5th Street Advisors has no such conflicts.
    
2. Figures and charts purporting to show how individual managers have beaten specific benchmarks are often self-serving, period specific, and do not take into account the effects of taxation.  Moreover, the very small percentage of money managers who outperform their benchmarks is not a static group; while it is possible to identify outperforming managers with the benefit of hindsight, it is enormously difficult to identify them in advance.
    
3. Since the vast majority of asset managers don’t beat the indices, why pay high fees for sub-par performance?