Financial planners, fees, and retirement

I was at my local library checking out a book about personal finance and a DVD caught my eye. It was from PBS. I am a complete nerd and have always enjoyed public television and radio and the educational material there. The title also caught my eye "The Retirement Gamble." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/
I figured, this ill be good to watch. I checked it out and watched it just last night. First of all, it was an incredibly good show to watch. As a financial planning professional and an avid student of financial thought and processes, it got my brain juices flowing.
The first thing I really enjoyed is the revelations about how people view retirement plans and the way they look at saving. Most people don't fully understand their money and spend it in many different ways. When they are offered the option to save through a retirement plan at work, they tend to participate because they are told it is a good thing to do. It used to be that companies saved for you and you were committed to that company for the rest of your life, because if you worked long enough, they would fund your retirement. This clearly changed with some tax restructures and new innovations in the market. I could go in on this all day about the economics of labor, but let's skip that for now.
The second thing that caught my attention was talking about growth in these plans. Most people don't know where to invest their money. The choices keep getting larger and larger. There are also more people trying to invest, so everyone wants in on the pie. Where the story gets lost is they look at the people trying to sell their products as "evil" because they want to charge fees for their management services. I know fees can really affect your retirement, but it is no different for you to pay above cost for any product and service. People have this notion that everyone else should work for free, except them. When you hire a professional to grow your money, expect to pay them for their work. If you don't want to pay them, then don't. Stuff your money under your pillow and don't complain. The most complaints tend to happen when people are losing money in their investments. It's not the manager's fault when the markets take a deep dive and then you, along with the rest of the world says "SELL!" at the same time. That's just simple economics and you can't blame them for something that is mostly out of their control.
The third thing they brought up, which I have been a great admirer of, is index funds. One of the greatest things to come out of technology, is the use of computers to match the overall market. In a market economy, people always look for ways to cut costs and get more business. By having a computer run the show, they are able to match the market and do it for a minimal fee. Fund management companies can do what every human has tried to do to match the market, and not have to hire someone. This is market efficiency and automation at its finest. The problem is humans want to preserve their jobs and hate change. They tend to fight automation and naturally try and push their own services without looking at the alternatives. Imagine if your competitor had a better product or services that was completely automated, while you had been doing your job for 20+ years at higher costs. You sure as heck won't want to give up your job just because someone else can do it better.
My final thoughts on the whole thing are to just make good financial decisions and let the new generation enact some change. The government and people have been bent on regulating people and the retirement accounts, when a change has already begun in lowering costs and making the system better for many people. I hope to become the well known adviser who efficiently directs people to making great decisions without much pain and need for hand holding. I am hoping the huge financial losses so many have gone through will get ourselves thinking about saving more and utilizing our brains more to accomplish our money goals. Growing up in Las Vegas, I have seen gambling all my life. When people are winning they are happy and keep trying for that big gain. They don't know how or when to walk away. Maybe people need to look at retirement planning the same way and when they achieve their goals, walk away and get themselves in a good spot so they don't have to freak out.