Sniktaw

"They perhaps don't even realise that under CRM2 the fees that they see on the report are just the fees that the adviser gets, not the total amount of fees that they pay."

That is one of the most important points here, and many do not understand this at all. It isn't even made clear in this article. 

The couple states this, "When we discovered how much we are paying in fees, we wanted to move our money somewhere where the fees are much lower", then the advisor says this, "it is understandable that they have a concern about the $7,000 they pay in fees each year on their mutual fund investments".

Is this $7K just to the advisor or the total fees paid? Total fees could possibly be over $10K per year.   Either way, with appx. $430K invested including RESP, that is 1.6% +, every year.  This could easily be done with individual equities for under $500 per year. 

I would think for $7000 per year or more, people would make it their business to learn more about investing.