A typical actively managed high net worth individual will underperform a passive index investor by from 2% to 5% a year (William Bernstein, The Four Pillars of Investing). When this is done really well, clients can be completely unaware of the poor performance they are getting.

The stock market was up 2,485% from 1982-2001. Were you?

Wall Street Magic:
Making Your Money Disappear

Sadly, the high net worth individual is often treated as little more than a cow hooked up to Wall Street's milking machine.

Here is a graph showing the growth of $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 in 1982:

Here are your same returns with a draconian 5% per year removed due to fees, commissions, spreads, churning, inappropriate investment selection, soft dollar arrangements, etc.:

Stages of Investing