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What alternatives do you personally use?

(Not original poster, but some suggestions) :

- Use a local credit union as opposed to big national bank. Yes, there may be minor inconveniences in service, but in this day of online banking, they should be minimal.

- Invest with a financial advisor you know and trust, who will pick up the phone when you call and explain things to any level of detail you desire (or who will bring in experts to do so if you won't). Barring that, invest in index funds for broad asset class exposure with low fees.

- Don't believe / vote in / listen to anyone (economist, politician or otherwise) who touts "free markets" without further explanation of how that market's regulators & insiders will work.

Investing with a financial advisor you know and trust doesn't sound like a good idea to me. That's what Bernie Madoff's clients were doing. You want a financial advisor who is trustworthy, which is a very different thing and much harder to find.

I disagree - Madoff was extremely secretive about his "strategy" (because there was none) and financial statements. He wouldn't meet with individual investors. So the transparency & access that I recommend simply weren't there with him.

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