Knowledge about fees is power. HonorVise will teach you what you need to know about fees and how they impact wealth creation.

 Don't Let High Fees Hinder your Accumulation of Wealth

Understanding Fees

Most advisors will only tell you about their advisory or management fee but you are also paying fees for stock trades and mutual fund management. These fees can total as much as 4 percent or more per year.

Doesn't seem like much? Over a working lifetime these charges represent hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be in your pocket. Put your own kids through college instead of your broker's kids.

There are many types of fees that investors and investment advisory clients pay.  Any "all-in" fee above 1.5% is entirely too high.

Advisory Fees

Investment Advisory Fees are those fees an investment advisor charges to profile a client and then construct, monitor, and rebalance the client's portfolio. At major wire houses, these fees can be as large as 1.5%-3.0% -- IF you have enough money to qualify for their high account minimums. At HonorVise, we believe that any advisory fee over 1.0% is too high (see our Fee Schedule).

Internal Fees

Internal Fees are the most overlooked fees by investors. These are the fees that mutual funds and ETFs charge to manage money that is invested in their funds. Active fund managers typically charge between .75%-2.0% for their fund management services. Passive index funds usually charge between .15%-.70% for their fund management services. These pricing differences persist despite the fact that over 75% of Active Managers fail to produce index returns. The Active Managers actually get away with charging more and providing less. We intend to shine a light on these fees at HonorVise.

Other fees to watch out for include: Front-End Loads, Back-End Loads and 12B-1 fees. Never pay a commission load on a fund.

Fees & Expenses Shown on the Statement of Additional Information

Another area where investors get "dinged" is in the fees and expenses listed on the Statement of Additional Information (SAI). These are fees and expenses that result from trading activity (e.g. brokerage commissions, the cost of trading against a spread, etc.) These fees are typically much higher in Actively-Managed Funds, ranging from .70%-1.50%. The fees and expenses shown on the SAI associated with Passively-Managed Funds are usually much less, ranging from .05%-.70%.

Adding It All Up ("All-In" Fees)

When added together, the fees associated with brokers and advisors that use an active investment management approach are overwhelming. In some cases, the "all-in" fees associated with advisors using an active investment strategy can reach 4.0% or more. With HonorVise, your "all-in" fees will usually be between .70%-1.50%. That savings goes straight in your pocket. The compounding effect of those savings can be huge over time (see Why Fees Matter for an example).