The Investment Scientist

Posts Tagged ‘incentive fee

Golf ball

Is a round of golf all the value you get from your financial advisor?

Why do you charge me 1% every year regardless how well you do for me? I would rather not pay you anything for the first 5% return and split anything above and beyond that.

This is a question a prospective client of mine asked me. Let me explain why this fee arrangement is not in the client’s best interest.

Historically, the mean return of the market is 10%, and the standard deviation of return is 15%. This means the market is equally likely to go up 25% in one year and go down 5% in another.

Despite what they want you to believe, financial advisors have very little control over the market.

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Michael Zhuang is principal of MZ Capital, a fee-only independent advisory firm based in Washington, DC.

Twitter: @mzhuang

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