I would be interested if other clubs calculate their expense
ratio to determine club cost effectiveness.
In our early years we exceeded 2% due to the start up costs
associated with starting a club.

We have slowly declined expenses and raised investments -
but we are still in the upper 1% range. Some members
(including myself) are making the argument that if we can't
get below 1.25%, then we are not being as cost effective as
the average actively managed mutual fund.

Any feedback is much apprreciated.

J Mostek

Juan, it's good to see that I'm not the only person who "worries" about expense ratios. Although my club doesn't keep an ongoing calculation, we try to keep it in the 1% range by usually investing $1,000 or more for each transaction (which has a 9.99 fee for us). This works out well, because we usually have $1100-1200 new money to invest each month. Sometimes, we will "cut this in half," and invest around $600 each into two different companies, although we usually only do this when adding to a position. Now that you have my curiosity up, I just figured out my club's expense ratio (includes brokerage fees and Bivio fees). For this year, our ratio is 1.4% of NEW MONEY added in 2002. Our ratio is 0.8% of our TOTAL ASSETS, which is probably a better measurement of expense ratio. I feel good knowing that we have not only outperformed the market by quite a bit the past two years, but that we are also doing well in regards to keeping our expense ratio low!
 
Good luck,
William Katona
Financial Officer
Ed Traders Investment Club
 
Juan Mostek wrote:
> I would be interested if other clubs calculate their expense
> ratio to determine club cost effectiveness.
> In our early years we exceeded 2% due to the start up costs
> associated with starting a club.
>
> We have slowly declined expenses and raised investments -
> but we are still in the upper 1% range. Some members
> (including myself) are making the argument that if we can't
> get below 1.25%, then we are not being as cost effective as
> the average actively managed mutual fund.
>
> Any feedback is much apprreciated.
>
> J Mostek

Juan, it's good to see that I'm not the only person
who "worries" about expense ratios. Although my club
doesn't keep an ongoing calculation, we try to keep it in the
1% range by usually investing $1,000 or more for each
transaction (which has a 9.99 fee for us). This works out
well, because we usually have $1100-1200 new money to
invest each month. Sometimes, we will "cut this in half," and
invest around $600 each into two different companies,
although we usually only do this when adding to a position.
Now that you have my curiosity up, I just figured out my
club's expense ratio (includes brokerage fees and Bivio fees).
  For this year, our ratio is 1.4% of NEW MONEY added in
2002. Our ratio is 0.8% of our TOTAL ASSETS, which is
probably a better measurement of expense ratio. I feel good
knowing that we have not only outperformed the market by
 quite a bit the past two years, but that we are also doing well
in regards to keeping our expense ratio low!
 
 
Good luck,
William Katona
Financial Officer
Ed Traders Investment Club
 
Juan Mostek wrote:
> I would be interested if other clubs calculate their expense
> ratio to determine club cost effectiveness.
> In our early years we exceeded 2% due to the start up costs
> associated with starting a club.
>
> We have slowly declined expenses and raised investments -
> but we are still in the upper 1% range. Some members
> (including myself) are making the argument that if we can't
> get below 1.25%, then we are not being as cost effective as
> the average actively managed mutual fund.
>
> Any feedback is much apprreciated.
>
> J Mostek
 
 
 
Juan Mostek wrote:
> I would be interested if other clubs calculate their expense
> ratio to determine club cost effectiveness.
> In our early years we exceeded 2% due to the start up costs
> associated with starting a club.
>
> We have slowly declined expenses and raised investments -
> but we are still in the upper 1% range. Some members
> (including myself) are making the argument that if we can't
> get below 1.25%, then we are not being as cost effective as
> the average actively managed mutual fund.
>
> Any feedback is much apprreciated.
>
> J Mostek

Can you attach a file or tell me how you compute your
expense ratio.

Thanks,

Barbara Burgess, Treasurer
MET

William D. Katona wrote:
> Juan, it's good to see that I'm not the only person
> who "worries" about expense ratios. Although my club
> doesn't keep an ongoing calculation, we try to keep it in the
> 1% range by usually investing $1,000 or more for each
> transaction (which has a 9.99 fee for us). This works out
> well, because we usually have $1100-1200 new money to
> invest each month. Sometimes, we will "cut this in half," and
> invest around $600 each into two different companies,
> although we usually only do this when adding to a position.
> Now that you have my curiosity up, I just figured out my
> club's expense ratio (includes brokerage fees and Bivio fees).
> For this year, our ratio is 1.4% of NEW MONEY added in
> 2002. Our ratio is 0.8% of our TOTAL ASSETS, which is
> probably a better measurement of expense ratio. I feel good
> knowing that we have not only outperformed the market by
> quite a bit the past two years, but that we are also doing well
> in regards to keeping our expense ratio low!
>
>
> Good luck,
> William Katona
> Financial Officer
> Ed Traders Investment Club
>
> Juan Mostek wrote:
> > I would be interested if other clubs calculate their expense
> > ratio to determine club cost effectiveness.
> > In our early years we exceeded 2% due to the start up costs
> > associated with starting a club.
> >
> > We have slowly declined expenses and raised investments -
> > but we are still in the upper 1% range. Some members
> > (including myself) are making the argument that if we can't
> > get below 1.25%, then we are not being as cost effective as
> > the average actively managed mutual fund.
> >
> > Any feedback is much apprreciated.
> >
> > J Mostek
>
>
>
> Juan Mostek wrote:
> > I would be interested if other clubs calculate their expense
> > ratio to determine club cost effectiveness.
> > In our early years we exceeded 2% due to the start up costs
> > associated with starting a club.
> >
> > We have slowly declined expenses and raised investments -
> > but we are still in the upper 1% range. Some members
> > (including myself) are making the argument that if we can't
> > get below 1.25%, then we are not being as cost effective as
> > the average actively managed mutual fund.
> >
> > Any feedback is much apprreciated.
> >
> > J Mostek