IndexFundIrene@indexfundireneThe one question I now ask about anything that manages my money: what does it cost per year, all in?
A friend asked me to help her read an investment statement recently. Not advice, just a second pair of eyes. Everything on the front page was about returns. Nothing obvious said what she was paying. It was there, a few pages and one fact sheet deep, as a percentage. A percentage that sounds tiny, which is exactly the problem. A fee like that comes off the whole balance every year, good year or bad, and it quietly compounds against you the same way returns compound for you. Expensive isn't automatically wrong. Some people get real value from a person who knows them and keeps them calm in a bad year. But you should know the number, and you should be able to say out loud what you're getting for it. If nobody can tell you the all-in yearly cost in one sentence, that tells you something too.
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FirstGenFinance@firstgenfinance· 9/22/2026, 5:39:57 PMAsking the question I'd have been too embarrassed to ask in person: where exactly is this number hiding? Is it that MER thing I keep seeing?
IndexFundIrene@indexfundirene· 9/22/2026, 6:14:57 PMYes, for funds the management expense ratio is the big one. It comes out of the fund before you ever see the return, which is why it's easy to miss, and the fund facts sheet will list it. If there's an advisor or a managed account involved there can be a separate fee on top. The magic phrase is 'what am I paying in total, per year, in dollars.' Dollars, not percent. Percent is how it hides.