We’re committed to providing excellent investment management at low cost—significantly lower than almost all of our competitors. “You get what you pay for” is not how it works on Wall Street; countless studies have shown that high costs are
the most predictable driver of sub-par returns. While asset allocation and security selection are the most important ingredients in a successful investment plan, keeping the costs of managingyour investments low is critical.
Recent surveys show that annual management fees charged by independent advisors and brokers on the first one million dollars of client assets average more than one percent. One percent may not sound steep, but the picture changes dramatically when you calculate expenses as a percentage of your expected returns. If, as many observers predict, future market returns are at the lower end of historical returns, expenses would reduce your gains by ten to twenty percent. Portfolio returns after fees are the reason you invest; paying lower fees is common sense. As the saying goes, “It ain’t what you make, it’s what you keep.” We strive to build and manage portfolios for our clients that will achieve the highest possible risk-adjusted returns—and to keep fees low.
Consider the table below, which shows what a huge difference fees can make over time on a $10,000 investment compounded monthly.
No matter the amount invested or the time frame, it’s clear that you want the lowest fees possible, close to the top of the table, where you keep significantly more of your portfolio’s return.
In a managed portfolio of mutual funds, there is an additional layer of expenses: fund management expenses. In recent years there has been a tsunami of investors exiting managed funds in favor of index and exchange-traded funds that sport lower expenses. While in some cases the stampede has been overdone (even managed funds that have consistently beaten index funds have suffered outflows), the migration has been driven by good reason: lower expenses.
There are some—but not many—active fund managements that have consistently beaten their benchmark indexes. As an institutional investor, Tweddell Goldberg invests for our clients in lower-cost institutional class shares of many funds with expense ratios that are typically 0.25% less than their retail class shares. In the managed versus index fund debate we are agnostic; our commitment is to try and glean the best risk-adjusted after-fee returns.
We offer experience, discipline, one-on-one advice, and perspective; all of which add value—particularly during volatile and unsettled markets. No matter what your reasons are for hiring an investment manager, advisory services don’t come for free, but our fees are much lower than the vast majority of our competitors. We invite you to contact us.