Commissions = Brainwashing Spelled Backwards!

 

 

Well, not really, but nowhere in the world of investing is “Brainwashing” more apparent than in investor (even government regulator) attitudes toward commissions. Since Charles Schwab first shocked Wall Street by offering discount commission rates, a new industry has developed with a huge, cult-like, following. Investment Managers are often called upon to explain why they prefer to operate using full service firms as, I’m told, most independent managers do. Many of you may even stop reading when I utter my blasphemous opinion that [once a portfolio is in place] commissions are simply a “variable cost” of Portfolio Management and not something to get particularly stressed about. I don’t know about you, but I wonder if there is some correlation between discount brokerage diehards and people who think that a certified pre-owned Lexus is somehow not a used car…checked out that Schwab smile recently?

 

Contrary to popular belief, successful investing requires the conscious coordination of two sets of well-documented principles, not just the placement of securities orders in one medium or another, or at high or low commission rates. These principles are the Quality, Diversification, and Income (QDI) tenets of Investments 101, and the Planning, Leading, Organizing, and Controlling (PLOC) basics crammed into the brains of all Sophomore Management students. As every experienced Manager learns, it is the fixed costs of an operation that require tight control, and the variable costs that require creative direction! Brokerage Commissions are one of these variable costs, as are Income Taxes. If you are managing the investment enterprise properly, your variable costs will move ever higher while your fixed costs remain relatively constant. Much to your pleasant surprise, your realized profits will increase at a higher level than the increase in your variable costs!

 

All too often, commission avoidance and tax reduction issues are allowed to “Wag the Dog”, causing millions of unrealized profit dollars to hit the books as realized losses.  In “The Brainwashing of the American Investor”, I’ve illustrated how (in a percentage- target, trading environment) investors who pay higher commissions actually make more money, in dollar terms, than their frugal “discounterparts”[sic]!  The Math is simple; 10% of a larger number is a larger number, period. But it should not be an issue at all. And, if it were really as big a deal as it is purported to be, there just wouldn’t be any full service/high commission brokers.

 

In investing, fixed costs are minimal unless you go out of your way to increase them by adopting some form of flat fee, commission-replacement arrangement. A management person responsible for directing your portfolio is a fixed expense. But if he or she really understands money, you will be discouraged from adopting pre-paid commission arrangements on a permanent basis. If you are paying such a flat fee on an income-orientated portfolio, we need to talk! Fixed income investing is much like furnishing a home with “durable goods”…low fixed expense and almost no variable costs at all. Equity portfolio investing is more like running an active retail business…the more turnover, the better. Most retailers have a standard mark-up policy, and most understand the turnover issue. The last thing they want to see is a higher inventory “value” from quarter to quarter! (Quarterly reports from brokers should be looked at similarly!) Higher sales numbers are the key issue. In fact, they may even send their highest commission earners on a cruise! Variable expenses are the fertilizer that grows sales, without which there are no profits. And, in equities, if there are no realized profits, why bother?

 

Retailers’ shelves are full of merchandise, purchased at different times, at different prices, and from countless wholesalers who, themselves, have varying markups. Items that move slowly are marked down for easier sale, damaged items are sold at a loss, etc, etc. Employees get their commissions, suppliers of replacement merchandise get their markups, and the cycle continues. Just like running an Equity Portfolio, right? The more commissions the retailer pays out to his sales persons, the more profit he brings to the bottom line. Just like running an Equity Portfolio, right? Now, what really happens when we reduce the “buying” markup paid to wholesalers and the “selling” commissions paid to employees, while we maintain our own profit target at 20%?

 

See the Math at: http://www.sancoservices.com/stockbrokercommissions.htm. Surprise, you’ll get better bottom line numbers (and more beneficial relationships) with the larger commissions!

 

From the table you will see that by cutting both our acquisition costs (and presumably giving up something of value in the process) and our selling costs (abusing our employees in the process), we’ve effectively reduced our gross sales by about $16,000 and our actual dollar profit by $3,000 while achieving about the same profit margin. Applying this illustration to the stock market and equity trading, one would find similar results. With a full service broker, you may wind up with a sales target for a particular stock that is somewhere between 25 and 75 cents per share higher (the larger the position, the smaller the differential). That amount can easily be eradicated simply by placing your orders properly in the first place!

 

And that, my dear, is the subject of Part Three of this series of articles… Part Two deals with the Wrap Account/Flat Fee con games.

 

 

Steve Selengut
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"The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read"