Economic statistics are big news these days, but they have a weak link at best with the value of your investment portfolio. A surprisingly good economic statistic can make the stock market jump. But a bad surprise can come along and reverse that move the next day.
In retrospect, it’s clear that economic turning points do have an impact on the market. But nobody can consistently predict these points.
That’s also true of key economic factors like interest rates, oil and gold prices.
One key investor statistic is the length of time remaining until you plan to retire or make significant withdrawals from your portfolio. It has a bearing on how much risk and volatility you can accept.
Another key stat is the percentage MER you pay to a mutual fund company on your fund holdings.
Fund MERs run around 2.5% of assets yearly, but some funds charge 3% to 4%, or even more. In addition, some funds take as much as 20% of profits above a predetermined threshold. This threshold may be as low as the current T-bill yield.
Some brokers tack on their own percentage fees for mutual funds they hold for their clients. This is on top of the 0.5% or 1% yearly trailer fees that many funds pay to brokers from MERs.
As a general rule, you’ll improve your investment results much more by simply eliminating high-fee funds from your holdings than by spending time studying economic statistics.
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