Re: fat margins A lot of that margin goes to the front line troops (whatever you want to call them-- brokers, advisers, planners, etc.) These are and have trad

Re: fat margins A lot of that margin goes to the front line troops (whatever you want to call them-- brokers, advisers, planners, etc.) These are and have traditionally been charismatic people who were relatively high touch. If you think of them as providing a service to customers than they look like a massive cost center and the businesses that employ them ripe for disruption. But if you look at them as a sales force the picture becomes much clearer. Morgan Stanley wealth management has Bob who plays pickup basketball on the weekend with a bunch of doctors. What does Wealthfront have -- an ad on Yahoo finance? My guess is that at some point these companies will pivot to trying to be the backend to a bunch of independents or small shops out there hitting the pavement. The customers will still end up with the 1-2% wrap, the robo-advisers will still end up with their .25% cut, but at least the customers won't be being put in high fee actively managed funds. So they'll be some improvement over the status quo.