Morningstar's Don Phillips talk about trends in personal investment

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/inspired-by-moms-etfs-an-elder-statesman-reflects-on-the-changes-in-fund-investing-1494209220

From WSJ May 7, 2017

 the biggest change you have seen in the fund world?

Today, people know they need to invest in funds. They’re seeking out the information and looking for the right characteristics. there’s a much higher chance you will end up in a good fund, satisfied with the results. Today, almost no money goes into funds with above-average expenses.

Investors in mutual funds—and equities, too—get a far better shake here (in the U.S.) than anywhere else in the world. There’s no other market in the world where you know if your mutual-fund manager invests in his or her own mutual fund. The U.S. is the one market where that transparency now exists.

What has changed most about the audience for funds as witnessed by your years at the Morningstar conference?

People are talking much more about the process of assembling portfolios. A lot more talk about passive investments.

What hasn’t changed over all these years that you think needs to?

What hasn’t changed is that an awful lot of people still aren’t participating in the investment process, not using the great low-cost funds and investment vehicles that are available to them.

Half of American workers don’t participate in any kind of a retirement plan, so there are huge communities that feel the financial-services industry has turned its back on them. Somehow the financial-services industry has not reached out to them as effectively as they need to, because we live in an era where the responsibility of saving for your retirement has been transferred from your employer or the government to the individual.