By now many of you are aware that I try to get people to think about their relationship with their investment advisor in terms of three things: advice, portfolio construction/management, and fees/costs. I recently distributed a shortpaper that covered all three to some degree, but it focused primarily on advice and portfolio construction/management. Attached is another paper (The True Cost of Investing) that goes into detail about the various costs an investor faces as s/he seeks to capitalize on what the public markets offer. The sum of these costs is far greater than most realize, and the effect on one’s portfolio value over the long term is astounding. There is good news, however. These costs can be significantly reduced and the savings put back to work for the investor, giving that investor a much better chance of reaching his financial objectives.
While this paper is a clear endorsement for how we manage assets at Frontier, this information is useful to anyone regardless of where your assets are held. What is important is that we all become more knowledgeable investors and consumers of investment services so that we improve our odds of attaining whatever investment objectives we set for ourselves. I hope you find this paper useful, and please pass it along to anyone else you think might find value in it.