Is your financial manager worth it? Walter Updegrave from CNN/Money answers a writer’s question. The writer has had a financial manager in charge of $400,000 in mutual funds and stocks since 2001, to whom the writer has paid 1% per year, or $16,000 total, in fees. The assets have increased 1% over the past 4 years.
Updegrave tells the reader how to go about determining whether the $16,000 in fees was worth the 1% increase in assets. Some calculations are involved in order to create an appropriate benchmark, and Updegrave points the reader to the Instant X-Ray Calculator in which you may enter your mutual fund holdings to determine your total composition in stocks, bonds and cash.
If you’re paying a crazy fee, your financial manager damn well better be blowing past the market averages. As we all know, the likelihood of leaving the benchmark in the dust is very low.
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published September 30, 2004. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
