This article was originally publish on Business Insider.

According to the Modern Portfolio Theory, it’s hard to beat the market. If MPT is right, then it shouldn’t be surprising to see headlines like, “New report finds almost 80% of active fund managers are falling behind the major indexes.” This naturally begs the question, “Why would you pay a financial advisor to manage your assets when you could easily buy index funds and manage your portfolio from your phone?” Sure, back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, if you wanted to invest in the market, you had to work through a financial professional. However, times have changed.

These days, you can manage your portfolio from your phone. If you buy index mutual funds or ETFs, it’s possible your money could perform similarly to or possibly better than those money managers who use the various indexes as their benchmark. That doesn’t mean you won’t experience market volatility or that you can’t lose money. It means you have a reasonable opportunity to earn similar results without paying unnecessary advisory fees.

If it is so easy to manage your investment, then are financial advisors obsolete? It depends. When it comes to financial planning, many people experience an interesting psychological phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence. Basically, they don’t know what they don’t know, and they don’t know how to learn what they don’t know.

Investing may not be the problem. However, how to financially get from where you are to where you want to be may have a few blind spots. Take retirement as an example. On the surface, it seems simple enough. If you invest and your portfolio averages, say, 5% or more each year, then you should be able to take 4% out of your portfolio, maintain your principal, and enjoy retirement, right? It’s not that simple.

According to Stanford’s research, pulling income from a stock/bond portfolio could come at a “high price.” There’s a retirement blindspot called sequence of returns risk. Basically, it’s not about averages. It is about the sequence of the return, year over year. If you have too many down years and you keep pulling income, it could compromise your ability to stay retired.

Now, let's add to the list of other potential blindspots that could negatively affect your ability to retire and stay retired. When it comes to retirement, you've got to grow your assets, produce income without compromising your assets, minimize your future tax burdens, optimize Social Security, understand and pick a Medicare plan, prepare your estate plan, and much more.

If you could hire a financial advisor to do one thing, it might be to create a comprehensive plan that addresses problems that you may or may not know exist. Once the plan was created, in an ideal world, you would be able to maintain it on your own or hire the financial advisor who created the plan to maintain it for you. It would be your choice.

The reality is, in my experience, that many retirement plans do not give enough context or guidance to the client, potentially creating a co-dependent relationship with an advisor. Instead of teaching clients how to fish, many advisors are instead selling the fish to their clients year after year.

"Unfortunately, many well-intended ‘free' financial plans are sometimes used as marketing tools to help a prospect go down a specific sales process so that the financial professional can sell you the product they want to sell you."

- Mike Decker, founder of Kedrec.

When a client becomes dependent on an advisor to manage and maintain their plan, they can put themselves at relationship risk. Imagine you are 5 to 10 years into your retirement, and you get a letter from your advisor that says, "I'm retiring," or "I've sold my practice." What do you do? Who is going to maintain your plan? Who is going to help you stay retired? Will the next advisor understand the current plan and stay the course?

"The truth is, once you have a professionally created comprehensive financial plan, you may not need an advisor anymore. If you're able to overcome the Dunning-Krugar effect with a comprehensive financial plan, you should be able to achieve greater financial clarity for years to come. That means, for many consumers, you could be equipped to manage your portfolio and plan on your own without paying an advisor thousands of dollars each year."

- Mike Decker, founder of Kedrec.

The problem is it is hard to find a financial advisor who is willing to go to the effort and detail needed in order for you to get a comprehensive financial plan that you can manage on your own. Not many advisors offer fee-only planning.

This is why, Kedrec, a Kansas State Registered Investment Advisory, is proud to announce that moving forward, all plans will be created with the level of detail that, once completed, you, the client, could be able to manage it on your own. That could potentially lead to thousands of dollars in savings every year.

If you have questions or need to update the plan, you can always come back in at a reduced planning rate. If you want the luxury of someone else managing your assets and your plan for you, don't worry. Kedrec is proud to announce that we will be offering comprehensive wealth management at a flat and transparent rate.

Financial clarity and confidence come from comprehensive financial plans. Without a detailed plan, you may find yourself in a position of confusion and concern. Don't live in a position of fear. Create a wealth plan that is designed to last longer than you so you can retire on time and maintain the lifestyle you want for years to come. Go to www.kedrec.com for more details and pricing for our services.