News

 Investors are being 'misled' into paying higher charges than they expected because fund supermarkets are not including performance fees in overall costs, research suggests. From The Telegraph. 

The young, newly-minted millionaire shareholders in Facebook and Instagram are urged by The Wall Street Jounal to follow the advice fellow tech giant Google gave its employees in 2004 before its IPO, when it brought in passive investing gurus John Bogle, William Sharpe and Burton Malkiel to prepare their soon-to-be-wealthy employees for the onsaught of active managers eager to mange their money.

 When you look at how an investment has performed, it's very easy to focus solely on how much it has generated – but equally important is keeping an eye on the associated costs because these can easily wipe out any profit that has been made. A recent article in The Independent asks some experts for their advice.

Greg Smith, a director of Goldman Sachs' London office, has quit, saying "I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it."

Investors need to tread carefully when picking funds for their individual savings accounts (Isas), to ensure that the fund management charges do not outweigh tax savings, advisers warn. From the Financial Times (registration required to view full article)

 'Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Nobel Prize-winning Professor Daniel Kahneman is a fascinating insight into human behaviour and how it applies in the world of financial management. This article in the New York Times explores Prof. Kahneman's thesis and shows how behavioural biases affect our investment decisions.

 When it comes to fund performance, costs matter. Yet cost disclosure in the funds industry remains a highly contentious issue. As calls mount for greater transparency of fund charging structures, Investors Chronicle looks at ways investors can minimise the costs of investing.

On the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth, The Telegraph reminds us of some of the novelist's wise words on the subject of money

Hidden charges make it difficult for investors to compare funds. The Guardian reports on the call from Fidelity Worldwide Investment for a simple charging structure so the true cost is clear to all.