For many banks and insurance companies, wealth management means selling products loaded with fees, especially mutual funds. According to ICI, 82% of investors own fund shares through financial professionals such as a broker, investment advisor, or financial planner. Just because you pay your advisor 1% each year, do not think that your mutual funds do not cost you anything.
How much are your mutual fund fees? Much more than you realize!
In a recent AARP survey, a shocking 71% responded that they didn’t pay any fees for their 401(k) mutual fund investments. I didn’t realize that Wall Street had suddenly earned a reputation for working pro bono. Well this simply isn’t the case, and investors need to better educate themselves on the cost of owning mutual funds which can be very reasonable (index funds) to exorbitant (load funds.)