Who to listen to?

Insurance agents and friends who are into fund and wealth management related businesses have approached me the past few months to consider signing up and to engage their services with regards to investments, be it mutual trust funds, forex trading, equities or stocks. I am no expert when it comes to investment but I do make it point to read up investment related articles. At times I wonder if those involved with investment such as fund managers are really that good then they would in actual fact have no need to approach others to keep their business activities afloat since they would have make tons of money themselves and retire comfortably so why go around struggling to look for new leads and customers? One common tactic used by financial advisers to convince customers is the so-called past performance indicator. Sad to say, most of the time looking at past performance alone does not guarantee nor does it help us make money now. Furthermore most of these financial advisers don’t even has the slightest clue as to knowing what was creating these incredible past performance. One needs to understand exactly what actually leads to the outstanding gains if one is to hope to replicate that performance over the next couple of years.
In summary I suppose we really shouldn’t be asking mutual fund managers or brokers about managing money. We should ask millionaires and billionaires who made their money buying and selling stocks, bonds, and real estate. With luck perhaps they'll tell us what to do and I bet the chances of it working and being successful is much higher than those so-called financial advisers. Last but not least, don’t be stingy when it comes to investing in financial knowledge. Invest time and money is necessary to acquire sound knowledge of wealth and financial management. We are better off managing our own financial well being rather than to depend on those so-called financial advisers and experts.