Fine, I can see where you are coming from.  But there is more to it than that.  First of all there is the lack of incentive. A stock broker is going to make money whether you do or not. This is very different than say many hedge funds, who take a ‘performance fee’.  These types of funds will earn a percentage of the profits that they make you each year; a far better compensation plan in my mind. The incentive to do well is clearly there. This would put many stock brokers out of business.

If you are not buying stocks yourself, you have very little control over your financial future. I know I keep harping on the same examples, but I doubt that you do not know one person who has lost a huge chunk of a 401k or a mutual fund that they owned.  It is all over the place.  Stock trading for yourself is no guarantee of course, but there are so many checks you can put in place to prevent the sort of things that many people have had to go through, often shortly before their planned retirement date, only to have to postpone that for a few more years (or many more years).

Decide today that this scenario is not going to happen to you.  Buying stocks is not as difficult as it seems. People ask me all the time if there is someone that I DO trust to help with this. Yes, there is.  Very few out there, but I have become acquainted with the rare few. One such service is a company called Doubling Stocks.  Although I will always trade on my own, both because I love it and because I have done well, I will occasionally try out other service to see how they do. Doubling Stocks is one company that has really impressed me. I cannot say enough good about them, and you of course are welcome to check them out for yourself.