HumbleDollar/Low Blows

DEC. 14, 2019

View this email in your browser

Low Blows

By Jonathan Clements

THE INDEX FUND fee-cutting battle reached its seemingly inevitable conclusion more than a year ago, when Fidelity Investments launched four zero-cost index funds. You can’t get any lower than zero, right? Apparently, you can. One small fund company is now effectively paying investors to own one of its index funds.

Still, the price war among financial companies has clearly moved on, with some firms eliminating brokerage commissions in 2019 or touting the high interest rate paid by their brokerage cash account. Cutting index-fund expenses is, it seems, so last year.

Where does that leave investors? Have they benefited from the index fund fee-cutting battle? I believe the answer is most definitely “yes,” though I also suspect investors haven’t benefited to the degree they imagine—for three reasons:

Continue reading on HumbleDollar.com

Latest Articles

BELOW ARE the six articles published by HumbleDollar since last week's newsletter:

Kristine Hayes looks back at a lifetime of financial choices and questions many of them—but she figures she got the big decisions right.
"No one can tell you whether foreign stocks will enhance your portfolio going forward," Bill Ehart notes. "Still, valuations are relatively low—which is one reason they could trounce U.S. stocks."
What's so great about Social Security? Dennis Friedman counts the ways.
Research has uncovered countless strategies that have beaten the stock market averages. Tempted to bite? Adam Grossman offers five pointers.
Catherine Horiuchi discusses the immediate aftermath of her husband's death—and the six lessons she learned.
"The evidence so far suggests that, if there is a performance penalty for sustainable investing, it’s a very small one," writes Robin Powell.

This newsletter, a product of Jonathan Clements LLC, contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is distributed with the understanding that the author is not engaged in rendering legal, financial or other professional services. If a reader requires expert assistance or legal advice, a competent professional should be consulted. While the author has endeavored to ensure that this newsletter is timely and accurate, the author makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents. The author specifically disclaims any responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this newsletter.

Forward