Death, taxes, and costs: The biggest performance drags on Asian portfolios
12 Jun 15
Brad McCosker, head of client portfolio management at First Degree Global Asset Management, looks at the seven biggest drags on Asian investment portfolios.
Benjamin Franklin once said: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” This was true in the 18th Century, and it is certainly true today. However, it should read: death, taxes and costs.
Indeed, Franklin helped create a very hungry commerce machine that today every economy in the world tries to emulate. The machine that provides our goods and services needs to be fed in the form of sales income. To you and me, this means costs.
In Singapore and in Asia more generally, financial services sales people seem to be as opportunistic as a Tuk Tuk driver in Bangkok negotiating for a fare. For both, the price starts at a shameless three-time fair value, and then you start to negotiate.
But it seems to me that in financial services, people in Asia don’t negotiate, and the costs paid are much higher than in other parts of the world.
Here, First Degree Asia looks at some of the ways costs are currently affecting Asian investment portfolios.
