by Henry K. Hebeler
Market Watch
The majority of the investments I own I’ve had for over 40 years. When I look back, they have had incredible performance — largely as a consequence of three principles that my financial advisor taught me in a number of early consultations. All three principles were the enemies of compounding’s power. The average long-term investor got only a fraction of the growth I have achieved. Here are our enemies.
1. Don’t believe the firms and media that offer market-beating security choices. Few money managers beat a simple mix of low-cost index funds, and when they do, they seldom repeat. Particularly egregious are management fees of 1% or more combined with high-cost funds that double down with 12b-1 kickbacks and/or front-end or back-end charges.