Fees - Should be Simple Right?

Unfortunately the financial industry loves hidden and embedded fees.  There are:  commission & sales charges, front loaded and back-loaded fess, consulting fees, fund fees, redemption fees, and surly many more.  We can all agree that there needs to be a fee; but when they are buried in the small print or conveyed in such a way that it becomes talking in circles, this only results in you being overcharged.  That is not by accident!

A good rule to live by when considering fees is never pay over one percent in total annually. This should include everything.  What is everything?  Well typically............

Management Fees:  Asylum manages your account and you pay us a fee. Simple. It’s the only fee we have.

Consulting Fees:  Less common but some firms also like to charge for “advice/planning.”  This usually results in being sold some additional products.

Conflict of Interest Fess:  We call them that because there is no way around it, they are a conflict of interest.  Sales and commission fees.  These are often associated with mutual funds and structured products.  The mutual funds and structured products themselves then have embedded fund fees.  Many of these funds will also have a front and or back-end load fee.  Oh and then for a final insult, how about paying a redemption fee when you leave.  It sounds like a lot, because it is a lot.

The disturbing part about the conflict of interest fees is, that not only are you paying your investment professional a fee, but then they are being paid by the funds to direct your money to them. The final insult is that these funds then charge you additional fees.

Again Asylum manages your account and you pay us one fee. No embedded mutual fund fees - why would you pay twice? No sales commissions or load fees. We are more concerned about performance then milking our clients for everything that’s allowed under the law, and at the end of the day fees impact performance.