"I am surprised in this day and age there's still mileage in "what do you mean he's a salesman... I thought he was going to help me".
on what planet were you living the last 20yrs?"
I think the fact is that most private investors don't live in your world Crackpot. They do believe, unfortunately, that FP's are acting in the best interests of the client, which is a perfectly reasonable assumption, given that they are paying their hard earned money for a service. Perhaps what you are saying is that, in general, FP's are basically scoundrels, who occasionally give a bit of good advice, and people should be aware of that. Possibly what irks the most is that CBA is a very large organisation, and considered by many private investors as safe and trustworthy. Many, very ordinary people go to CBA for investment advice, because they have limited knowledge of the system they are about to plunge their life savings into, and fully and rightly expect that CBA will do the right thing by them. On top of all this, we are currently hearing about legislative changes that will further reduce an FP's responsibility for the advice they give. Maybe the signs should read:
