Skill.md
Where Are the Customers' Yachts?
Fred Schwed Jr. wrote Where Are the Customers' Yachts? Or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street in 1940, and its central question remains unanswered: if Wall Street professionals are so skilled at making money, why do the brokers own the yachts while the customers don't? A former broker himself, Schwed described with equal parts humor and precision how the financial industry systematically enriches itself at the expense of the clients it ostensibly serves. This skill encodes his diagnostic framework into an actionable tool for evaluating any financial advice, product, or relationship.
Core Framework
| Dimension | Core Question |
|---|---|
| Conflict of Interest | How does this person earn money — and does it align with my outcomes? |
| Forecasting Illusion | What is this forecaster's documented track record? What do they lose if wrong? |
| Complexity Racket | Can the economics be explained simply? Who profits from the complexity? |
| Speculator's Psychology | Am I acting on enterprise value — or on price momentum and tips? |
| Transaction Volume | Is this activity driven by my financial need, or by the broker's revenue need? |
Supported Query Types
- Advisor trust evaluation: "Can I trust this broker's recommendation?"
- Forecast reliability: "Should I act on this analyst's market prediction?"
- Product analysis: "Is this structured product / annuity / fund worth it?"
- Behavior diagnosis: "Am I investing or speculating? Is my trading hurting me?"
- Fee impact: "How much does this 1% annual fee cost me over 20 years?"
How to Use
- Install the skill: Download the folder and upload it in Claude.ai under Settings → Skills
- Describe your situation: Share the advice, product, or behavior you want evaluated
- Ask your question: Use the trigger phrases above or describe your decision directly
- Drill deeper: Ask for the conflict-of-interest map, fee compounding math, or forecast accountability analysis
Limitations
This skill encodes Schwed's framework from Where Are the Customers' Yachts? and focuses on structural conflict identification and behavioral diagnosis — it does not provide specific buy/sell recommendations. All fee and performance figures should be verified against current official sources.