fees Archives | Wealthfront Blog Personal Finance & Investing Insights Thu, 19 Oct 2023 21:46:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/cropped-wave-logo-transparent-hi-res-500x500.png fees Archives | Wealthfront Blog 32 32 What Fees Do Banks Charge and How Can I Avoid Them? https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/bank-fees-and-how-to-avoid-them/ Thu, 08 Sep 2022 22:14:46 +0000 https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=13177 When it comes to your savings, account fees are a bad thing. Fees can eat away at your wealth over time and are essentially negative earnings. Unfortunately, many financial institutions charge a broad range of fees on checking, savings, and cash accounts. They do this for two main reasons: one, according to our estimate, banks need […]

The post What Fees Do Banks Charge and How Can I Avoid Them? appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> How Do Banks Make Money? https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/how-traditional-banks-make-money-from-you/ Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:43:02 +0000 https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=13459 Bank branches may seem like an antiquated way to conduct banking in this day and age (we certainly think so), but traditional banks’ business models are built around them. We’ve written before about how these branches provide an extremely poor customer experience and, infuriatingly, cost you $200 (or more!) per year even though you have […]

The post How Do Banks Make Money? appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> Why You Should Ditch Bank Branches https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/why-you-should-ditch-bank-branches/ Tue, 23 Jun 2020 22:16:13 +0000 https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=13271 Note: This post was updated on September 21, 2020. We can’t imagine there are many people who get excited about a trip to their local bank. Unless you have a penchant for capless ballpoint pens, uncomfortable waiting room chairs, and stale hard candies, there’s not much reason to visit your bank’s nearest retail branch. More […]

The post Why You Should Ditch Bank Branches appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> Banks Are Having Their “Blockbuster Moment” https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/banks-are-having-their-blockbuster-moment/ Thu, 04 Jun 2020 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=13197 For many of us who came of age between the late 1980s and early aughts, Blockbuster Video is a pleasant memory. For roughly two decades, Blockbuster was a dominant force in the video rental industry. But despite this dominance, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy in 2010 and instead of operating 9,000 stores like it did in 2004, […]

The post Banks Are Having Their “Blockbuster Moment” appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> The New ETF on the Block https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/new-etf-block/ Wed, 16 Aug 2017 19:05:34 +0000 http://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=7732 At Wealthfront we take pride in lowering our clients’ expenses wherever possible. As our Chief investment Officer Burt Malkiel likes to say, there’s nothing like saving fees because it represents a guaranteed increase in returns. So today we’re excited to announce we have replaced our Municipal Bond ETF with a lower cost alternative, Vanguard’s Tax-Exempt […]

The post The New ETF on the Block appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> The Silent Assassin of Fees https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/silent-assassin-fees/ Wed, 26 Jul 2017 17:03:02 +0000 http://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=7694 A few years ago I wrote a blog post that attempted to comprehensively outline all the apparent and hidden fees that can eat away at your investment return. This was (and still is) important because over the course of 30 years fees can actually lower your net worth by as much as 50%.1 But as […]

The post The Silent Assassin of Fees appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> Don’t Do As I Do: Financial Advisers Edition https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/canadian-financial-advisers/ Wed, 08 Feb 2017 16:57:09 +0000 http://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=7405 Financial decisions are among life’s most complex decisions, which is why many people turn to professional financial advisers for help. While the profession has its supporters, it also has a large group of critics. Most of these critics argue that advisers don’t truly act in your best interest as true “fiduciaries,” but instead, will simply […]

The post Don’t Do As I Do: Financial Advisers Edition appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> The Tyranny of Compounding Costs https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/tyranny-compounding-costs/ Wed, 25 Jan 2017 18:10:12 +0000 http://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=7200 Fees compound over time, just like investment returns. But rather than push the value of portfolios higher over the long run, fees do the exact opposite. They eat away at the value of your portfolio. John Bogle, the founder and former CEO of Vanguard, referred to this as “the tyranny of compounding costs.”  In some […]

The post The Tyranny of Compounding Costs appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> Are You Invested the Right Way for 2016? https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/invested-the-right-way-2016/ Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:50:52 +0000 http://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=5335 As we draw to the close of another year, it’s common for investors to ask themselves, “am I invested the right way for the long term?” Unfortunately, too often we lack access to the data that could help answer that question. Fortunately, Wealthfront is in a unique position. We have seen what thousands of people’s […]

The post Are You Invested the Right Way for 2016? appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]> Fees Can Destroy Your Return https://www.wealthfront.com/blog/fees-can-destroy-return/ Tue, 10 Feb 2015 16:53:51 +0000 http://www.wealthfront.com/blog/?p=4959 In an environment where a diversified portfolio is only expected to return on the order of 6% annually, any fees will have a significant impact on your outcome. In the same way that investing for the long-term takes advantage of the power of compounding, the regular or recurring fees you pay reduces the overall potential […]

The post Fees Can Destroy Your Return appeared first on Wealthfront Blog.

]]>