The Alistair Blog
Stories about the broken world of traditional financial advice, deep dives into our microtools, and updates on what we're building to fix it.
Horror Stories
Clear filter3 posts
Horror Stories6 min
The $12,000 Handshake: What Traditional Advisors Really Cost You
A 1% AUM fee sounds small — until you do the math. Over 30 years, a typical advisor fee can cost you hundreds of thousands in lost returns.
July 1, 2026
Horror Stories7 min
"I'll Refer You to Someone for That": The Narrow Expertise Problem
Your financial advisor manages investments. But what about taxes? Estate planning? Insurance? Each referral is another fee, another relationship, and another gap in your financial plan.
June 24, 2026
Horror Stories6 min
2 Hours a Year: The Ugly Truth About Advisor Availability
The average client gets about 2 hours of actual advisor attention per year. The rest of the time, you're talking to an assistant, a junior associate, or nobody at all.
June 17, 2026