It was a fleeting thought, but that was my association.

Reminds me of a long-time client in the music gear business, an industry that thrives on endorsements from the touring pros to sell to the much larger world of semi-amateur-weekender-non-gigging-garage-players, and how they were challenged by the category of folks – musicians – they had to sign up with, given that you could see those people turn around one day and be druggies, molesters, rapists, or who knows what.

Hey, look at what's going on with Gretzky right now – there's an untarnished brand for a very very long time. Does anyone remember Pro-Stars cereal? I was back in high school eating that stuff – long long time ago.

the "make every decision count" line means to me exactly what you say in your set-up upthread: that money is mysterious and ordinary folks have no business trying to keep up with the pros.

so entrust them your savings, let them work their magic, but please please please, no matter how poor their performance, don't think you could have done better with an index fund.