Like many others on this forum, I am a die-hard believer in low-cost passive index funds and philosophically aligned with all things Bogle. All of my personal investment money is held in Vanguard and I can't imagine a day where I try to pick individual stocks, time the market, or pay high fees for some active manager/hedge fund, etc. But perhaps somewhat contradictory to this belief, I work at an active management company that tries to do all the typical no-no's people shun on this forum. While I ultimately view this goal/mission as a futile endeavor, I haven't had any internal struggles with this during my 4+ years at the company. I've always viewed it as different....work is work and it's a job. The investment analysis is still intellectually stimulating and interesting. There are also other aspects of the job, such as the relationship building with business partners and development of soft skills, that I am enjoying. And even though I am keeping all my money in passive, if someone wants to pay us (and pay us well) to try time the market, nothing wrong in trying right? (EDITED in response to some of the comments. I don't work in sales and marketing but yes and sales pitch is involved but we aren't lying or making any illegal claims to our clients).
Never really had any meaningful thoughts about this until now. What changed? I have outgrown my currently role in this investment team and looking to pivot to a new role. This requires a significant amount of time dedicated to self-directed learning of new skills. I am more than willing to invest the time for career advancement, but in my head as I am doing thing, I can't help but think things like "OK, this well get you get you the job and teach you how to do the work, but does this actually work or is it all just a lie? Aren't we just still throwing darts at the end of the day? Don't try and time the market!"
I am interested to hear how others in a similar position think about this in their own head. (Or even if you don't work in active management, any thoughts on this?)