D.I.Y. Investing: Do It Yourself Investing

Another side effect of Wall Street's fall may be an aversion to listening to financial industry advice. Brokers, mutual fund managers, financial personalities on cable news – few of them predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would lose half its value in a year. So why should we believe them now?

The decline of the expert may mean that, even more than in the past, average Americans will have to take their investment planning into their own hands. At the least, small investors may become less interested in paying the fees for the experts who run managed mutual funds. Index funds – which just follow a set formula and aren't controlled by highly paid people who consider themselves Masters of the Universe – may be on the rise.

In years ahead, the actively managed fund industry "will shrink pretty dramatically" as more investors decide its fees aren't worth it, says Darrell Duffie, a finance professor at Stanford University.

From: "10 Ways the New Economy Will Look Different"
~ The Christian Science Monitor ~ April 10, 2009

The rich have become disillusioned with the people who look after their fortunes.

There is a natural inertia about wealth management. Clients may want to believe that they made the right choice of advisor in the first place, or will "cling to nurse, for fear of finding something worse." They may also feel they lack the expertise to evaluate the service they are getting. "Private Clients don't know enough about the industry to be able to demand what they need", says Caroline Garnham of Lawrence Graham, a London law firm. But the financial crisis will have shaken many clients out of their lethargy. The next few years will see big changes in the wealth-management industry.

From: "Show Them the Money"
~ The Economist ~ April 8, 2009

“I now have enough knowledge to become more actively engaged in my financial future as a result of this work. I am confident that my portfolio will increase in value as a result of being actively involved with it.

I can do this!!”
~ Colette Freeman, Manager Packaged Goods Company Long Beach, CA