investment
the importance of looking at fees
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They’re going to continue doing this in the future, but have decided to look at the range of actual returns on the products to pick the right range of numbers for growth. So, say currently they use 5%, 7%, and 9%, but actual growth is more between 2% and 6% over 10 years then they’d switch to using 2%, 4% and 5% in their marketing projections.
It all sounds very reasonable and sensible to me, but what was funny was that one of the new graduates is apparently doing a lot of the donkey work on the calculations suddenly realised that if (as is the case with many actively managed funds) the charges were 1.8% a year, and the projected return was only 2%, then the fund would have a 2%-1.8% = 0.2% actual return to investors. It would barely cover its expenses and certainly wouldn’t be a good long term investment.
Now, it’s unlikely that 2% is going to be a projected growth rate, but fees are really important when you’re looking at investments. They come directly off the growth of the fund, and you have to pay them regardless of whether your investment makes money or loses money.
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It’s a really good point to make. With some investment funds (typically held within a stocks and shares ISA) charging 1.5% per year, you have to have a good 6% or 7% growth to get a good return for your money, and in times like these the charges really make a difference.
It’s one reason why some people love index tracker funds - their charges are typically very low. I used to be really averse to these funds, thinking they were very dull and largely “mechanical” in their nature (ie they were effectively a computer programme tracking the market), but I now understand the value they can bring to a portfolio.