Economics from a people first point-of-view

(part 3 of 3)

Last time we looked at the list of fees within the “Fees and Expenses” section of a prospectus. There’s another misleading chart in this part of the prospectus. It’s the ten year fee table that purports to show the expenses on a $10,000 investment. You’ll find it in all mutual fund prospectuses. This is what happens in a chart called “Expenses on a $10,000 Investment.”

It’s easy to overlook the impact of fees when they’re divorced from earnings.

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(part 2 of 3)

This post is about a pit I fell into and stayed in for many years! I overlooked it because fee charts in prospectuses deceive by omission. Not until I attended a financial workshop in 2006 over in San Francisco, did I realize my mistake.

Prospectus fee charts don’t show “a percent of what?”

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(part 1 of 3)

This is the first of three prospectus pitfalls to watch out for.

You may have been thinking of jumping back into the market and buying some mutual funds. You know by now how the value of investments can drop drastically. But you may not know where to find all the mutual fund fees that will also reduce your returns on your investments.

Mutual fund fees are not always found in one place in a prospectus.

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