Institutional investors have the bargaining power to demand that they be provided with comparative benchmarking information.  It seems fair that retail investors should have the same information.

Comparisons to benchmarks can put returns in perspective and enhance investor’s awareness of the performance of their advisors.

Obtaining a return of 8% in a year when the market rose by 20% is very different from obtaining a return of 8% in a year when the market fell off 10%.

An investor is better able to assess the value of portfolio management services received if he knows how well his portfolio fared in relation to a benchmark, especially one that could be replicated by a low cost passively managed exchange traded fund.