Isn't this true of everything? If you were good at writing, you wouldn't work for the Wall Street Journal. If you were good at programming, you wouldn't work

Isn't this true of everything? If you were good at writing, you wouldn't work for the Wall Street Journal. If you were good at programming, you wouldn't work for Google. If you were good at cooking, you wouldn't make stuff at home for your family. All of that value you create could be captured and only used for yourself, and you're letting other people have it FOR FREE!!! The fact of the matter is that a bound on theoretical returns is not what dictates people's choice of career. You have to consider the lower personal risk that you take on investing someone else's money and only getting a percentage of it versus investing your own money and getting 100% of it. You have to consider the aspect of being able to learn from others as you work, versus having no mentors when you lone-wolf it. You have to consider that being a financial advisor is not just looking at investments and making trades. Maybe they look forward to their 45 minute call with Jeff Bezos or whatever, and that's what driving them to that career option. Finally, I think people are hiring financial advisors for prudence, not because they expect to beat the market. For example, how much of your money should be available in 1 day versus how much of it might be stuck in the market for 10 years because some politician made a dumb decision? How much of your stock should you sell this year in order to replace your roof, or should you get a loan? Nobody is expecting to beat the market; they just want to avoid doing dumb stuff that can be avoided.