This quote put a smile on my face I'll be wearing for a long time.

Swensen is troubled about what he sees as the immorality of the American investment business as it's practiced today by both CEOs and the investment management community. He writes, "Overwhelmingly, mutual funds extract enormous sums from investors in exchange for providing a shocking disservice." By that he explains that mutual funds charge their investors big fees and usually fail to deliver returns that beat the market.

To me the same could equally be applied to anyone who would ask you for part of your hard earned money in exchange for his or her advice. It's the most important investing lesson of all. You can't pay someone else to take responsibility for your nest egg. If you do they'll just take your nest egg and tell you the results they're delivering are first rate.

Exchange Traded Funds, ETFs, are the best way to lay off the risk of individual investment vehicles while taking advantage of the return potential of the market sector the ETF was designed to mimic. If enormous endowment fund managers are using ETFs as integral components of their investment strategies, shouldn't we all?

I know I do. It's why I'm smiling.

Read the entire article from which this quote came.