Field notes
Six notes on reading the ground.
Evergreen method guides: what the numbers mean, how to check them yourself, and where each one stops. No tips and no market calls.
- Field note 1 of 6What an expense ratio costs over ten yearsA fee of one percent sounds small. Charged every year on the whole balance, it compounds against you, and the gap is easy to measure.Answers What does an expense ratio actually cost me over ten years? How do I compare two ETFs that track the same index?3 min
- Field note 2 of 6How to read a 10-Q without reading all of itA quarterly report can run to dozens of pages. The item numbers are the same in every one, and three of them carry most of what changed.Answers How do I read an earnings report without reading the whole 10-Q?2 min
- Field note 3 of 6How to measure fund overlapOwning five funds is not the same as owning five different things. Overlap tells you how much of your money you hold twice.Answers How much do my funds overlap? How do I compare two ETFs that track the same index?2 min
- Field note 4 of 6Risk-adjusted return, in plain wordsTwo funds can earn the same return and put you through very different rides. Risk-adjusted return measures the ride.Answers What is risk-adjusted return, in plain words? How do I compare two ETFs that track the same index?2 min
- Field note 5 of 6What a fund manager change meansWhen the people running a fund leave, its track record stops describing the fund you own. Here is what to check, and what not to do.Answers What does a fund manager change mean for a fund?2 min
- Field note 6 of 6What the Dragon Score cannot tell youOne number is a reading of what a fund has done. Here is how it is built, and what it leaves off the map.Answers How is the Dragon Score calculated, and what can it not tell me?3 min
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