106 | A Crumbling Pillar: Assets-Under-Management Fees

Paying for advice based on a percentage of assets is an enormous improvement from paying commissions and sales charges when you buy specific investment products, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

It doesn't take a PhD to see the incongruence of charging fees for one thing and delivering the value on everything else.

There is still an awkward conflict of interest when it makes sense to save more or consolidate assets.

There is still the reality that some people pay a lot more than others for the same experience.

It takes advantage of the "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" nature of deducting fees from an account that is rarely reviewed in detail.

It leads us to believe that investments must matter more than they do, because no matter how much we try to discuss everything else, the way you’re billed tells a story that is nearly impossible to re-frame.

The pillar of the industry is crumbling and we're building a new one - our fee is a simple, flat fee that is loosely based on complexity and ability to pay, but is never based on a percentage of assets under management.

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107 | A Crumbling Pillar: Detailed Plans and Projections

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105 | The Cost of Availability