Life doesn't seem so tough for fund managers when they can bask in the sun by the Mediterranean, sipping Pimm's on the roof terrace of Le Méridien in Nice contemplating when a market revival might come. It's certainly a more enviable situation than that faced by clients back home wondering if they will ever be able to afford to retire.
Fair enough, conferences like the Fund Forum often meet in attractive venues. But the delegates to this annual European fund management jamboree might have acted with a little more humility in the face of rising criticism of their performance.
While the temperature outside the conference hall soared well above 30ºC, inside the atmosphere remained cool, with managers seeming to respond to some of the accusations thrown at them in a lighthearted manner as if they were directed at someone else.
So it fell to Jonathan Compton, founder of Bedlam Asset Management, to raise the heat. Once a fund manager at Samuel Montagu, he set up his firm with the intention of shaking up the industry. He claims to be drawing the minimum wage - in stark contrast to peers.
In his presentation, he launched into an attack on fund managers.