Sliding Scale Fees

  

Categories: Banking

They're kinda like progressive taxes. Or volume discounts. And they apply to all kinds of products, especially investment ones, where putting to work $10,000 isn't all that different from putting to work a million bucks, depending on the transactor.

Sliding scale fees are really common. The bigger the scale, the smaller the fee per unit sold gets. So a typical mutual fund broker might charge 6% for the sale of anything up to $1,000 worth of NAV purchase. If the buy jumps to $10,000, that fee might be 3%. If the buy jumps to $100,000, it might be just 1%. Way more money put to work "at scale," so the customer pays fewer dollars per unit purchased. Only fair.

See: Breakpoint (not the movie, which sucked).

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is a redemption charge?7 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop what is a redemption charge All right

00:07

well when you redeem shares of a mutual fund in

00:11

a deferred commission purchase structure there's a charge like you're

00:15

not paying your commission upfront you pay it later Remember

00:18

that most mutual funds are sold as a shares meaning

00:22

that the commission of the fund you're buying is paid

00:25

up front That is if you've invested ten grand on

00:28

a three percent up front commission structure while when you

00:32

step up on the swimming pool starting blocks and the

00:35

money is actively starting to be invested your actually starting

00:39

the race with ninety seven percent of that ten grand

00:43

or ninety seven hundred bucks with three hundred dollars having

00:46

gone to the broker for the pleasure of selling you

00:49

that fund but some mutual funds are sold as b

00:52

shares where there is essentially an exit fee or rather

00:56

where there is a charge when you redeem the fund

00:59

either because you just want to sell it or you

01:01

die in your estate liquidates it or martians kidnap you

01:05

and force you at martian gunpoint to call in a

01:08

sell order right Well in many cases redemption fees are

01:11

waived if you hold the mutual fund some extended period

01:15

of time like a year a few years five years

01:18

something like that If you hold the fund an extended

01:20

period the annual management fee paid to the people buying

01:23

and selling securities on your behalf can then cover the

01:26

broker's commission So the money managers aren't actually losing money

01:30

in the form of that three hundred dollar commission paid

01:32

you a broker who sold you ten grand of fund

01:35

only to have you three weeks later dump it and

01:37

move on to another funds Well there are other benefits

01:39

and having this system set up because it encourages mohr

01:42

careful selection of mutual funds and longer duration in holding

01:47

them And yes the obvious marriage and dating allegories apply

01:51

here But we just won't go So when you hop

01:54

in bed with a given mutual fund read the fine

01:56

print because well all kinds of hidden feed germs exist

01:59

in bedrooms airport bathrooms and glass elevators Well all around 00:02:02.98 --> [endTime] the world

Up Next

Finance: What is a Contingent Deferred Sales Charge?
10 Views

What is a Contingent Deferred Sales Charge? A Contingent Deferred Sales Charge is a fancy name for a back load fee for mutual fund B shares. Basica...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)