Should investors pass financial tests before playing markets?

We live in strange times, in which experts and people in power are the subject of open vitriol. I am constantly astonished, for instance, at just how many people openly hate politicians. But this corrosive cynicism extends well beyond the obvious candidates all the way through to finance professionals. As a tiny case study, I spent the weekend with my in-laws and, although they heartily despise most of our prime ministers, they are equally critical about financial advisers, especially those who led my father-in-law into the disaster that was Equitable Life. Their view is the expert...