Let’s talk about fees

Fees are receiving all kinds of attention, at the moment. Robo-advisors, who do have lower overhead, are investing heavily in low-fee focused advertising. Maybe I should say, they are investing heavily in trashing others for their high fees. This is good stuff, to the extent this will put downward pressure on fees industry wide. This is bad stuff, to the extent the public is being deceived. The public is being convinced fees are more important than performance…so NOT true!

Personally, I’d rather pay 2% fees and net 10% growth than pay 0.25% and net 6% growth, any day. That most critical point is lost in the low fee argument. The flight to ETFs and other robo-advisors is really missing the main point.

I will always measure performance first, fees second. Just like I do not want to hire the cheapest doctor, mechanic, engineer…I don’t want the cheapest financial advice; neither should you.