The aid efforts continue, hopefully it’s making its way to the people in need.
Joe
When we talk about frugality, the easy targets come to mind, eating out, buying the $5 latte, spending on clothes, etc. All good places to look to save, but today, I’ll discuss one that’s often overlooked. Investment expenses. The annual expenses for mutual funds run from about .2% to as high as 2% depending on the fund. Think about this. A 2% per year fee adds up to take half your money over a 36 year time span. As many will have a 40 year investing horizon, this puts a sharp edge on these numbers. You toil, but the fund manager skims half your money over your lifetime? ETFs have provided a nice alternative, but with one main issue, as they are traded like a stock, there’s a commission each time you buy or sell shares. Even a $5 cost doesn’t lend itself to a plan to dollar cost average over time.
Now Schwab has announced its Schwab ETFs which it will trade for its customers at no transaction cost. The Broad Market ETF and the Large Cap ETF both Trade for .08%. This multiplies to 2.84% over that same 36 year period. Not bad. Other domestic funds they offer are a still reasonable .15%.In the end, expenses matter.
Disclaimer – This post is my opinion and observation. I happen to be a Schwab client, but I have not received any compensation for this post. I don’t think they read me.
Joe
Today, I’m proud to offer up another guest post at Jeff Rose’ Good Financial Cents.
As my regular readers are aware, I’m a bit cautious about the fanfare surrounding the Roth conversion, the ability to pay the tax on some or all of your IRA now so that you don’t have to pay tax when you retire. Jeff asked if I’d write an article discussing the potential pitfalls of making the conversion and finding out it was a mistake. I jumped at the opportunity, and the result is today’s Unforeseen Consequences of the Roth IRA Conversion. Some of my best work, please visit and let Jeff know what you think.
Joe
If you haven’t read it recently, read the I have a Dream Speech, or better still, take a break, and watch the full video of this amazing speech.
Enjoy the day.
JOE
Let’s start this week with Nicole at Rainy Day Saver wrote Paying Down the Mortgage: Another View and shared her view which is that she’s prefer to take the fixed 5% return offered by paying the mortgage off more quickly than taking the risk of investing it in the stock market. It’s a rational choice, to be sure. I’d first verify there’s no credit card debt to be paid (she’s CC debt free) and that there’s no 401(k) matching funds to be had that she’s missing. I need to post more on this, 401(k) is just an account, it can be invested in many things, stocks, bonds, money market funds. Silly to pay off a 5% mortgage but miss a dollar for dollar match in the 401(k) account. She didn’t mention the 401(k) in that regard.
Financial Samurai shatters our dreams with Your Net Worth Is An Illusion, Sorry To Spoil Your Delusion! Sam goes on to tell us why we should not tally up our worth the way we might be inclined, using present market value. After all, we saw that the stock side of our portfolios can drop. Like a rock. 55% from the last top to the recent bottom. So maybe we should value at a discount, perhaps 1/2 of the current value. An interesting view, not sure what I’ll do with it.
Adam Baker is now in Thailand, which gives him an interesting perspective on the coins and paper money back in the states. This week, he asked Are Americans Ready to Ditch the Dollar Bill? Considering the relative life of a dollar coin and dollar bill, it really does make sense to quite printing the paper ones.
Clare at Money Energy asks Will We Still Be Investing in 2110, and What Will Markets Look Like in 100 yrs? This post is a beautiful combination of her own views and input from a number of fellow bloggers. Spoiler – No one predicts the end of the world as we know it.
Finance Your Life struggled between Saving vs Paying Down Debt. In the end, he chose to take the $5000 he had sitting earning virtually no interest and throw it at the credit cards. So long as he doesn’t charge up those cards again, I’m liking this decision.
Eric Tyson, author of Personal Finance for Dummies among other books brought to light that Dave Ramsey [is] Getting Kickbacks From Investment Brokers. Not so much that it shocked me, but I think his followers expected better from their finance guru who comes across more like a preacher than a financial expert. Eric does a great job pointing out the flaws in many of Ramsey’s teachings.
Last this week, I’ll offer The Kay Way’s Equality – Does Not Mean The Same. As the Dad of an 11 yr old daughter I am very aware of how she views the differences between men and women. My job is to teach her that she should live up to her own potential, that the current mix of the sexes in a given job was based on choices people made then, 10, 15 years ago, but that she can be or do whatever she puts her mind to. I commented on Kay’s post, sharing with her that my wife and I happen to split the chores, I shop and cook, she cleans. We do what we do well and like to do. Not a financial blog, but a great read none the less.
Next week – a Roth Roundup, because the Mania continues.
Joe