Low Expense Ratio

One of the big advertising kicks today from mutual funds is to tell how low their expense ratio is and that you will make a great deal more money if you buy and hold with them. Partly true, but that is not the whole story.

What is the expense ratio? It is all their overhead including but not limited to all the managers and other employees salaries, rent, computers, utilities, travel (the fund manager says he has to visit a company in Florida in the winter to see how it is doing), advisory services, telephone, etc., etc, etc. Oops, and don't forget the manager's bonus whether he makes money for you or not. If the fund has one billion (yes, that's a B) that means they can spend $10,000,000 on expenses and no one will complain because it is a tiny 1%.

At some point expenses just about stop going up as you don't need very many more people to manage the paper work for a billion than you do for 250 million. The fund manager's duties remain the same just the size of the orders he places changes. Actually as a fund grows in size its expenses should automatically come down as a percent of assets, but you will find that is not the case for many funds. They keep sticking it to their investors who don't have any idea how egregious this is.

The larger the fund family the lower should be their expenses per fund as they can outsource from the fund to a central billing and customer service desk.

Vanguard Funds has more than 100 individual funds in its family and they brag on how low is their expense ratio. It should be as they have more than 720 Billion spread out over those funds. They keep their expenses low and at only 1/2% they can charge about 360 million to offset their overhead.

Many funds run very high expenses. This is especially true for new and smaller funds, but as they take in more money they can spread their expenses and lower their ratios. One of the recent criticisms of funds is they have been making extra charges labeled 12B-1 that are supposed to be expressly for promotion to bring in new customers. Unfortunately, some (not all) of the fund managers have been pocketing this. If this does bring in new money then the expense ratio should fall and again in many cases it has not.

Investors expect fund managers to be honest. When large sums of money are at stake it seems to bring out the worst. That real nice fund manager turns into a hungry wolf and the investor becomes one of the 3 little pigs that did not escape.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

professional maid services Deerfield ..

In The News:

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

A new phishing scam targets family photos with fake "Cloud Storage Full" alerts. Criminals steal credit card information through fake sites. Learn protection tips.

South Korean scientists create ultra-thin fabric muscles that turn clothes into robotic assistants, lifting 33 pounds while weighing under half an ounce.

Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport for $126M to launch an LA air taxi network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, featuring AI-powered eVTOL operations and next-gen aviation tech.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Fake AI apps disguised as "ChatGPT" and "DALL·E" are flooding app stores with dangerous malware that steals data and monitors users without detection.

Low Expense Ratio

Stocks & Mutual Fund