Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomer
I opened this thread a week ago because a friend asked me to look at a report from her advisor. She is with an advisor who gets a percentage of Assets Under Management. That number is perfectly clear. But when I looked at the report, I became curious as to what kinds of fees were enshrined inside all those mutual funds, which led me to wonder what is the real cost to her of doing business.
Thank you to those who have participated in this thread by offering good information. I was going to start another thread this morning with a specific question that I know somebody here will be able to answer, but I decided to just add the question here.......
The report I am looking at lists the top ten holdings, along with a lot of other funds. I would like to have a clear picture of what those holdings entail -- at least the top ten -- for a start. I was able to find part of the info on Fidelity -- even though these are not Fidelity funds.
I then went to investor.gov which sent me to FINRA. After skimming through page after page of instructions on the FINRA site, I began to feel like my head was being pinched in a vise and I concluded this site must be designed for those who have a bunch of those money-handler designations after their names. Anyway, mere bumpkin that I am, I soon lost interest in continuing my quest for more info on these funds by using FINRA.
Sooooo, to make my long story longer, I am finally getting to my question of the day:
I am going to look at subscribing to Morningstar. I saw that they have a free 7-day opportunity. I do not want to spring for a whole year, but I think I saw there might be a monthly option that could give me time to get all my deciphering of these funds done if 7 days is not enough.
Is Morningstar easier to use than the FINRA fund analyzer?
Boomer
(This quandary of mine is exactly why I stick to individual div stocks, cash and a few index funds that do not seem to cost much. But here I am trying to figure out if my friend is being treated fairly. Is she paying a helluva lot more than she thinks she is with just that AUM percentage? Front loads? Back Loads? Trailer Fees? Expense Ratios? Turnover Rates? And probably a few other things buried in those funds? AAAAAAAUGH!!!!!)
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The regulator requires each US mutual fund to list its fees in the fund’s prospectus document that is published, I recall, quarterly. If all you want is the learn about fees, it is in there usually in a common format. The prospectus document is available from the company sponsoring the fund such as Vanguard and, I believe, the US SEC’s EDGAR database. Reading multiple prospectuses is the most accurate and complete to learn about fees but reading them takes time. A commercial product such as one from Morningstar will provide summary information saving you time.
Also, the regulator requires each fund to disclose their investment holdings I believe quarterly.The filing is available on the US SEC’’s EDGAR database, The filing will likely show all holdings of a fund, not only the top 10 or whatever.
I can’t compare the Morningstar and FINRA products.