The question is not only whether alpha exists, though, but whether you can a) identify it, and b) access it. Berkshire Hathaway’s stellar outperformance seems

The question is not only whether alpha exists, though, but whether you can a) identify it, and b) access it. Berkshire Hathaway’s stellar outperformance seems to have declined in recent years, right, and you and I can’t invest in Renaissance’s Medallion fund. I’d concur that the individual investor has much more freedom in terms of basic asset allocation than most professional fund managers (except maybe hedge funds), but otherwise the general advice to go for a broad based index fund still stands.