peppermintpatty wrote,

OK, management fees are worth considering when two or more investments/mutual funds have the same "gross yield", but IMHO the bottom line is what's most important to me! The total expenses are secondary to my NET RATE OF RETURN. Don't you agree?

I think we can agree that everyone seeks, and likes, high net rates of return. The question is "How do you find them?"

Every prospectus I've read includes some variation of "past performance does not guarantee future returns." Then you have the studies showing that this years top performing mutual fund invariably under performs in subsequent years. How do you choose?

The only sure fire method I've found is to minimize what you pay in fees and commissions, and be a LTB&H investor in individual stocks to reduce turnover and the negative effects of the bid/asked spread. My annual investment expenses are less than 0.01% (i.e. less than 1 basis point) and I've enjoyed close to a 40% CAGR over the past ten years.

I retired 6 years ago at age 38. I encourage everyone to pay close attention to how much you're losing to fees and commissions.

intercst