Understanding the Layers of Fees
Posted on February 28, 2013
A bit of knowledge can go a long way to protecting yourself and squeezing out some higher returns.So what layers do I need to ask about when I invest?
1. Investment Product Level
- Entry and Exit
- Management Costs
2. Trading Costs
- Entry and Exit
- Management Fees
Now, we don’t like to create more enemies than we already have out there, so we are going to describe product fees without using any names. We will call them the Red, the Blue and a Managed Account.
| Blue Account | Red Account | Managed Account | |
| Platform Exit | Restricted Exit | Restricted Exit | No restrictions |
| Platform Management | 6% p.a. | 3.5% (2%+1.5%) | $10 per month |
| Trading Costs | 0 | 0 | $1 per trade |
| Fund Entry | 0% | 0-2% (average 1%) | 0 |
| Fund Management | 1.2% + 0.5-2.5%Average 2.5% | 0.5-2.5%Average 1.25% | 0.18%-0.5%Average 0.3% |
| Total | 8.5% p.a. | 5.75% p.a. | 0.3% +$120 per year |
Some would argue that fund fees aren’t part of the product costs. That’s true, but they are still costs that will affect your investment return, so it’s worth knowing what they are. Professional investors and pension fund managers use exchange traded funds (ETFs) due to their big cost advantage over mutual funds higher management and entry costs. So should you.
As you can see, the total effect adds up over time. Now some product providers talk about “bonuses”. We wonder why they need to offer a bonus if their product is already so wonderful. Well, I think the answer is pretty clear about why. And if you do the sums, it is not nearly enough.
Bill Longstreet has been a financial advisor since 2003 and prior to this were a institutional business development director, specializing in fixed income and foreign exchange markets. Bill has a Master in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance (1999) from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis and am a candidate for the CFP (Certificate Financial Planner) qualification. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Economics from Denison University. In his last position before joint Caterer Goodman oversaw $350 million in client funds across a range of currencies and risks profiles.
Categorised in: General, Investments