One thing to do in 2017
The single and most important thing one should do is trim the fat and dead luggage from their investment portfolios. There is one simple way to do that:
STOP PAYING EXCESSIVE FEES
It sounds reasonable but the fact is almost all of us are, and don’t even question it. Let me ask you three questions:
- Should the professional be compensated more than the gains you are earning by investing with them?
- Should the professional still earn a large income stream off of your portfolio if your gains are zero, or worse negative?
- Should you accept “low” returns as a consequence of so called “poor markets”
No, No, and No.. The simple answer? Fire them, fire them all and I will explain why.
Mutual Funds
If your invested through an insurance company in ‘segregated’ funds your likely paying 2.5% of your balance in fees every year. To put it in perspective, even if the fund was able to generate 5% (rare) you have just paid 50% of your gains in fees. Worse yet, you were in bonds and only earned 2-3% in which your losing money every year.
The answer? you really should be paying about 1/10th of that in fees. Open up an investing account through your bank and do it yourself. It’s not hard at all, and with a couch potato strategy you can easily beat most heavily charged mutual funds. Remember the rule of 72.
Real Estate
People take on the unpleasant hat of landlord for one reason. Self managed rental property can deliver you consistent double digit returns if you do it property. Real estate however has a very high transaction cost when you buy or sell, so the best gains are typically realized if you hold for 5 years or more. Investing in multi family can be even more profitable if done correctly. Those that are too busy, or do not have $800,000 for a down payment often will co-invest with experts and share the profits. This is how I got started, and I highly recommend it! But are they created equally? it depends, read the fine print…
Every building owner must pay the inevitable $50,000 or so cost of fees associated with purchase. Legal, corporate, mortgage broker, appraisal, engineering report, etc. will typically cost 50K on a $2,000,000 apartment building. If you have a 75% mortgage this is 10% of your funds gone from day 1, meaning the asset must generate 11.1% just to break even!! The following picture are real numbers comparing Altyn Equities to another competing syndication out there. Even though Altyn Equities is taking 40% of the profits on exit, the effect of fees taken from the other syndication is astounding, even though they are only taking 30%. Like mutual fund companies, they are taking huge and upfront fees for doing absolutely nothing.
Summary. You need to strike the right balance of do it yourself vs. getting it done. I have done both very well, and very terrible by investing with others. If you chose this path do your research carefully, see a track record and understand how you will make money in any market or event. Most importantly, be wary of fees!! If you picked up anything from this always ASK ASK ASK, and DEMAND better for yourself and your family.
Best wishes and happy investing in 2017!!
