Good points about how to choose a Financial Adviser

But it still needs someone with in-depth financial experience to guide those not spending much time on financial matters through the due diligence process.
You may be at risk in the next bear market if you fail this test

Index Funds and ETF's - stay close to the Exit

Index Funds and ETF's may be a wonderful choice in the eyes of many investors - individuals and institutions alike. But one aspect gets not mentioned often enough: apart from the risk that you will be fully exposed to any market decline (how good are your market timing skills?) the relentless flood of money into these instruments/strategies also pushes the already expensive component stocks to an ever higher multiple. It creates a sort of Pentium mobile or self-full filling mechanism. The higher a stock like, say, Amazon climbs, the more money is allocated to this stock - as long as people want to allocate money to the asset class, the stock market in this case.

The REAL problem with ETFs

As it is so easy to buy/sell the ETF, and in effect the market, and so much money is controlled/advised by 'professional' advisers (even more subject to herd instinct) the moment the markets turn, or a light downtrend accelerates, will be when ETF investors rush to the exits - and the door will be awfully narrow.
No bubble in ETFs?

30 reasons to love Index Funds

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-reasons-to-fall-in-love-with-index-funds-2014-06-04

Your Adviser gets incentive not to offer cheaper Funds

That could happen if Morgan Stanley decides not to pay its brokers for clients' ETF holdings.
morgan-stanley-weighs-changing-broker-compensation-on-vanguard-funds-1493987204 (Paywall)

Passive Investing Will End In Pain

Index Investing, ETF's, commonly called 'Passive Investing' are no panacea as they mean that you will participate in any market decline to the fullest extent.
Passive Investing Will End In Pain

Active managers - not that bad

While quite a few 'active' fund managers hug the indices and charge fees as if they are trying to beat them not all is that bad as it is portrayed by some critics. Any fund manager needs to charge a fee as nothing can be provided for free. So performance really cannot be measured after fees, expenses. It is by definition a must that the universe of fund managers will under perform any index by the amount of costs loaded onto the funds they manage. Maybe these fees are rightly deemed to be too high but investors should not be brainwashed by the community of passive fund promoters. You get what you pay for, in this case the chance (hope?) that your manager will outperform the benchmark.
Bad times for active managers: Almost none have beaten the market over the past 15 years

Leveraged ETFs - only if you can handle high Risk

SEC May Regret the Day It Allowed Leveraged ETFs

Passive Investing done the right way

Since the most recent Market Crash 2007-09 Passive Investing - mostly by using ETF's - has gained in popularity, and rightly so. But Investors should be careful not do add an additional layer of costs when they pay a commission or fee to a Financial Adviser or Fund Platform or Provider. The majority of liquid investments (i.e. listed shares in contrast to property or private equity investments) can and should be allocated to low-cost instruments. A good spread among different asset classes (bonds - high grade, high yield and emerging market bonds, government bonds, equities - large and small caps, emerging markets, international issues, currencies) is still a tricky decision to make but here the guideline should be the market cap as well as occasional rebalancing in a contra-cyclical fashion.

Index ETF: Time to say Good Bye?

More and more commentators suggest that investors should move out of passive investment vehicles, i.e. index funds, mostly packaged as ETF's. But you should resist the lure of active mnagement and instead review your asset Aalocation.

Chinese Shares - ready for Mum and Dad?

News that a commercially-driven entity may decide how billions of investor's savings are deployed in the fast-growing Chinese Equity markets should set alarm bells ringing. After all, China is still in the grip of a communist dictatorship. Recent economic growth may well be impressive - unless you are belonging to the millions who have been pushed out of employment by cheap Chinese labor - but that should not mean that question of morality and fair play are forgotten in order to lure investors into a market that is anything but transparent - at least not as far as 'Western' Investors and Savers are concerned. Allowing index designers free reign over the fate of our Savings is totally irresponsible.
China's A-Shares Prepare to Flood Your ETFs (Barron's)

Sector ETF's better than Market Index

While no advocate of market timing for the average investor I think it is preferable to keep an eye on overvalued or undervalued market sectors and allocate new money based on constant sector weightings. Index ETF's are a great - and cheap - instrument to get exposure to the Equity Market but this approach avoids money being allocated to expensive and possibly overpriced market sectors. It is perfectly possible to create a near-perfect replication of the overall market by carefully selecting sector ETF's.

ETF Gold does not equal Gold

Many Investment Pundits recommend Gold as the ultimate protection against currency depreciation. So investors often are tempted to buy Gold-themed ETF's as they are convenient to buy and sell. But apart from fine differences between all the available ETF's that are linked to the price of Gold investors should also be aware of possible pitfalls (The Market Oracle) that are inherent in the way some of these ETF's are structured.

Why is your Financial Adviser offering 'Alternatives'?

When being offered any financial product investors should always make sure that they really understand them and are not swayed by the sales pitch they get from a financial adviser. While the inherent risks in any product should be the main consideration there is also a need to have a good look at any fees associated with the product.

Synthetic ETF's - Do they pose a risk? and for whom?

Discussion about the potential risks that may or may not be created for global financial markets by the proliferation of increasingly complicated Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's) that rely on derivatives to achieve their investment objective also highlights the fact that the ETF investors on their part may also be unaware of risks that synthetic ETF structures may pose for their financial security. While ETF's were initially viewed as a simple method to achieve performance targets at little cost and with little risk they turn more and more into instruments that can only be properly scrutinised by experienced investment professionals. Investors should not rely on glossy marketing brochures and sales patter by advisers who are trying to promote the funds.

ETF transparency could be better

'Pressure growing for greater transparency' reads a headline in the Financial Times (7 Feb 2011). What is particularly worrying - among some other aspects - is that ETFs are not bound by trading rules that apply to single shares. Neither completed trades nor bid-offer prices have to be reported and investors are to a certain amount kept at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the market makers. As a consequence extra care has to be taken when dealing in ETFs.

Do you know how a 'Mezzanine Certificate' functions?

We have to admit that even after 40 years working in the financial markets or with financial instruments we have only the haziest notion of how such an investment instrument is structured. So it is no wonder that a major financial institution is being sued by German investors who have been sold such a product. As always we advise investors to be vigilant and not buy investment products that they do not fully understand.

Can an ETF collapse?

The ETF concept is spreading fast so it is useful to pause for a moment and consider possible risks that are not mentioned by the marketing men selling these products. When a headline such as this one catches our eye we therefore pay attention. It demonstrates that all investments carry some risk and investors are well advised to do their own due diligence rather than rely on marketing patter or recommendations by 'friends'