Stockbrokers do not have a fiduciary responsibility toward their clients. Any time they try to sell you something, you can be sure it’s against your interests, almost by definition. If it happens to work for you, it’s an accident.
Different story with many types of fee-based financial planners.
There is no reason why individuals can’t beat the market.
The market consists of a large number of people buying and selling stocks. If you are smarter, wiser, and have better self control than most of them, you will be successful.
Warren Buffet is a good example of this.
Brokers are salesmen as much as used car salesmen.
I had one particularly egregious person attempting to sell me every lousy product the firm pushed.
I love online trading. It just eliminates the horsepuckiness of investing.