Eric Sprott (CAN), Helen Bond (CAN) and Mclean Budden (US) beat their respective market over the past 10-12 years. According to statistics, independent investors are averaging a small 4% over the past decade, I think there are ways to improve this.

MER’s fees are tax deductible in non-registered account only, I should have added it in my post. Thank you for the precision.

Past performance is probably the only thing you can base yourself when you choose a fund manager OR A STOCK. Looking to predict future perspectives of a company is like gambling, don’t you think?

In the end, you are right when you say that it is for people who don’t wan to manage their money, however, the benefits are larger as most people that handle their portfolio end-up with a total disaster.

How many private investment managers are? Try asking them and they won’t tell you. I’ve asked two who tried to get me as a client one question: net of fees, what kind of returns have you obtained compared to the benchmarks. One even had the nerve to answer, “I can’t answer this question”.

“MER’s fees are not only lower but they are also tax deductible”

Only in a taxable account. Fees on RRSP accounts are NOT tax deductible.

“You have the possibility of selecting the best managers over the past 10 years for each asset class”.

And that tells you what? That they have performed well in the past 10 years. It tells you nothing about how they will perform in the future and it is for future performance that you are hiring them in the first place.

There is only one reason for hiring an investment advisor of any kind: you don’t have the inclination to do it yourself and need some hand holding. Other reasons are totally bogus.

Mike