Financial advisors aren’t really facing competition from other channels, said Murray, because other channels aren’t really offering personalized financial advice.

Similarly, Murray said that the industry needs to stop hyperbolizing the Trump administration, noting that he had already lived through worse.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I know it is a function of my age, but I can’t buy this in any way. Let me confess to you why: I survived Carter,” Murray said. “I survived all four of them. Listen carefully: From an economic standpoint, from a financial standpoint and from a foreign relations standpoint, the four worst presidents of the 20th century were all in a row: Johnson, Nixon, Ford and the crème-de-la-crème, James Earl Carter Jr. They didn’t drive the economy in the ground, they didn’t burn the world to the ground, and it’s not going to happen now. I don’t care what he tweets or what hour he tweets it.”

Murray pointed to a rising economy and expanding levels of individual wealth among Americans as proof that advisors have little to worry about.

For example, U.S. household net worth increases to $96 trillion in the first quarter of 2017, a level “not approached or dreamed of” prior to the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, said Murray. At the same time, the U.S. household debt ratio dropped to 10 percent, the lowest level reported since 1980, he said.

The current U.S. and global economic growth, and the bull markets that have come with it, are based on more than sentiment and deficit spending, he said.

“There’s no such thing as artificial growth,” said Murray, pointing out that since Sept. 15, 2008, one of the low points of the financial crisis, bank excess reserves have increased from zero to $2.5 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2017. “It’s an observable fact that at no time, never in my career, have consumers, companies and banks been as liquid as they are right now.”

Market watchdogs are too focused on simple measurements of valuation like price-to-earnings ratios, said Murray. While equity price increases have outpaced the expansion of earnings, companies are also paying out higher dividends, he said, noting that over the past three years, the S&P 500’s total dividend payout has increased by over 50 percent, and it continues to go up.

Even during the best of times, people will still need financial advice, said Murray, estimating that there are now 40 million people between age 50 and retirement, 10,000 of whom retire every day and will need sound financial advice.

Yet advisors are still a pessimistic lot, lamented Murray.