September 1, 2010
What Is The Real Cost Of A Mutual Fund?
The word investment does mean that there is a risk involved. Quite a lot of people do not invest too much in a single position. In a way they manage risk by just not taking it in the first place.
Low load mutual funds work the same way as DSC funds. The financial advisor gets a lower commission, usually 3%, as a result the MER does not have to be increased as much and you are only locked in for 3-4 years instead of seven. A much better option for you, but not as good an option for your advisor since their commission is decreased. If you hold DSC funds you may want to ask your advisor way they did not offer you low load funds instead. Almost all funds that have a DSC option have a low load option as well.
There are various schemes and your manager can suggest you the paramount option according to your requirement. You can start off with a very small amount which can be directly debited from your bank account on a monthly basis. You can enter this sector with a low investment and can grow steadily. Fund managers keep a track of mutual fund NAV and accordingly suggest when to sell it off. Company that maintain records are trustworthy and you can be assured that your money is safe.
In Feb 2010 Standard & Poor’s launched its most recent Canadian Indices Versus Active Funds Scorecard with data for the five year period ending December 31, 2009. Below are a couple quotes from the report. “Over longer periods, we continue to observe indices outperforming the majority of domestic funds. In three-year and five-year periods, only 12.5% and 7.4%, respectively, of actively managed Canadian Equity funds have outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index.”
It is easy to figure out why actively managed investments consistently under-perform with the incredible high Management Expense Ratio (MER) that is charged on actively managed mutual funds in Canada. Having a 2%+ MER compared to an index funds MER of 0.75% or less is a lot to overcome. Overcoming these higher fees becomes an even more difficult task when you look at the holdings of a typical equity fund compared to its index. In most cases the holding are very similar.
There is a maximum commission the advisor is allowed to charge, set by the fund company, but there is no minimum. It is possible for your advisor to sell you this type of fund and not charge you a commission at all. If you pay a commission this money goes to your financial advisor and the firm they work for. In addition to this commission your financial advisor will collect a trailer fee directly from the mutual fund company as long as you own the mutual fund. These trailer fees are normally about 1% and are paid from the MER of the fund.
To learn more visit: Retirement Financial Advisor
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