I've read numerous articles and opinion pieces over the past week lamenting the Supreme Court's failure to rule in favor of the investor on excessive mutual fund fees and discrepancies in fees between different share classes. Most story leads read as follows: "
The Supreme Court handed a victory to the $11 trillion mutual fund industry by endorsing a 1982 legal standard to decide the fairness of fund fees, a ruling that gives companies considerable freedom to set investment adviser charges." Speculation abounds that a rash of new law suits challenging the status quo will be filed.
My take is very simple. Investors should take action and vote with their feet. Refuse to buy funds with high fees. And if you're currently in high-fee funds move your money to low-fee alternatives. Don't look to Washington for answers. Empower yourself. The marketplace works.
Exactly right! What even surprises me is that I meet finance officers who have no clue on the cost of funds to the company employees. Makes you want to scream. Apparently complicating something just a little bit causes people to give up trying to understand.
ReplyDeleteI agree...empowering yourself is the key to quite a few of the predicaments that people have gotten themselves into in terms of financial matters, credit cards, mortgages. It's easy to blame others for the choices and decisions that we make, it's a big lesson to learn that we are responsible for our own actions.
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