Strange thing. Hard to figure out. Every financial adviser defends their product to the bitter end. There are IPO fans who, according to them, invest, make lots and lots of money, and everything is great. There are manufacturers of structured notes who also invest, also make money, and everything is great for them too. There are advisers selling endowment life insurance, investment life insurance, ULIPs — and everything is great with them. There’s me with my conservative stocks and bonds — and everything is great with me. There are passive investors, fans of discretionary asset management and hedge funds — and everything is great with them. There are venture investors; advisers selling income-producing real estate in different countries around the world; people who recommend nothing but gold bars; rare connoisseurs of fine art; crypto believers… you name it. And damn it, everyone is doing great! Just some weird people keep buying U.S. government debt at 1% a year when they could hand the money to an asset manager at 300%. Pure matter of taste. No difference whatsoever. Apparently.