The timing of Teacher Appreciation Week (May 7–11) and Mother’s Day (May 13) got me to thinking about what my mom taught me about finance. While mothers may not be teachers in the official sense, they play an important role in teaching us about the world around us.
One of the vexing questions in the investment world is why many investors are inattentive to fees. While Vanguard has helped create a class of investors that’s fee-conscious and fee-aware, the fact remains that many individual investors remain in high-cost funds (and in other high-fee advisory strategies).
A while back, I wrote about how people often miss the impact of investment costs on wealth accumulation. Today, I want to make sure readers know that it’s as critical for retirees (people spending money) to think about how costs hit their portfolios as it is for people who are still saving. In fact, you might say that by taking a bite out of both income and wealth over time, costs actually hit retirees with a “double whammy.”
Two years ago, my husband and I bought a TV. He wanted the super-duper one. I wanted a good deal. We went with the good deal.
Fast-forward two years, and the TV we got only turns on and off when it wants to. Now, every time the TV goes on the fritz, my husband resists the urge to say, “You get what you pay for.”
A Wall Street Journal report, published on February 21, notes that small-capitalization stock prices, as measured by the Russell 2000 Index, are nearing an all-time high. But investors aren’t pouring money into small-cap stocks.
The story, “Small-cap rise is big snooze,” notes that small-cap funds have seen steady net outflows of cash, not big inflows. “Where is the love?” asks the Journal.
