June 23, 2016
Regarding the April 14, 2016 Recommendation of the Investment Advisory Committee Regarding Mutual Fund Cost Disclosure, I am writing to add my support to the recommendation that mutual funds communicate their costs to customers in dollar terms (in addition to percentage form).
I am a recent retiree having spent 40+ years in the computer engineering and engineering management professions. Performance (including costs) of the various taxable and tax-deferred accounts in which I hold my family's savings -- a substantial portion of our net worth -- are certainly important to me as I manage our transition from accumulation to de-accumulation.
However, I believe that seeing the "maintenance" cost of such accounts -- in real dollar terms -- will be useful to savers and investors in all phases of their financial life perhaps even more so for young people new to investing, who may be less attuned to the "drag" that fund/account expenses impose on long-term results.
What I would like to see is this: a requirement that mutual funds and ETFs report their total expenses for each account in dollar terms on a calendar year basis. And do so in a standardized form that is amenable to brokerage firms (e.g., Fidelity, Vanguard, etc) totaling these expenses across multiple fund holdings, such that they can report the total expenses across all holdings in a brokerage account.
Thank you for your consideration of this recommendation.