Always watch the fees.

Fees can eat away at any investment, no matter how good. High mutual fund fees have come down in recent years with the proliferation of low cost index funds. Broker commissions have come down with competition from online brokers. This is a boon for customers, every dollar paid in a fee is a dollar that is not coming back.

Some banks just don't get it. Recently, Bank of America, Citibank and others announced that they will start charging fees for merely having a checking or debit card account. People started to move their money. Bloomberg reports that about 30% of people will switch if their bank charges fees. I already have. The Move Your Money Project was originally started to help people move away from "too big to fail" banks now has new life facilitating people moving away from high fees on checking and savings accounts.

At New Perspectives, we keep our eye on fees. We argue for our clients to get their fees reduced and reimbursed when unfairly charged. We focus on the most effective, and lowest cost methods of investing and saving.