The industry produced real innovation, and each advance created real value.
| What it delivered | What it left | |
|---|---|---|
| ETFs & index funds | Democratised access, eliminated fees. | The path still breaks. |
| Risk parity | Diversified volatility, reduced drawdowns. | The path still breaks. |
| Factor investing | Named and systematised return sources. | The path still breaks. |
| Systematic trading | Removed emotion, improved consistency. | The path still breaks. |
| Direct indexing | Tax efficiency at scale. | Optimising the wrong problem. |
Every one improved the return — access, cost, factors, consistency, tax. None addressed the path: holding it intact long enough for compounding to take hold.
Not a criticism — path integrity simply wasn't what they were built to solve.