Hard to Fire

The Walkaway Number · Chapter 8 · Find the invoice hiding in the holdings

The Portfolio Health Check and Fee Audit

Inventory every investment, calculate first-year costs, and model fee drag over the actual horizon.

Output: A holding-level ledger, first-year fee total, blended cost, and three same-assumption compound comparisons.

Time: About 60 minutes after gathering statements and disclosures

Inventoried balanceUnresolved
Current first-year costUnresolved
Current blended costUnresolved
Proposed first-year costUnresolved
25x fee heuristicUnresolved

The audit still has an unresolved holding, allocation, fee, horizon, source date, tax check, or suitability review.

1. Set the disclosed comparison

Run current and proposed costs with the same balance, gross return, horizon, and cash flows. Otherwise the comparison is fuzzy math in a nice blazer.

2. Inventory every holding

Allocation is holding-level stock, bond, and cash exposure. Each row must reconcile to 100%.

First-year fund feeUnresolved
Total recurring feeUnresolved
AllocationUnresolved

3. Compare fee drag without changing the story

Future value without contributions = current balance × (1 + gross return − annual cost)^years.

3% gross return

Current cost: Unresolved

Proposed cost: Unresolved

Modeled fee drag: Unresolved

5% gross return

Current cost: Unresolved

Proposed cost: Unresolved

Modeled fee drag: Unresolved

7% gross return

Current cost: Unresolved

Proposed cost: Unresolved

Modeled fee drag: Unresolved

The 25x fee heuristic is not a compound model. The 25x fee heuristic shows scale quickly. It is not a compound model and can't replace the horizon comparison.

4. Stop before the trade

No trade belongs in this audit. Inventory and diagnosis come first. A low-cost fund can still be inappropriate, and valuable planning service may justify a visible fee.

Professional-review flags

Completion test

Inventory every holding, reconcile allocation to 100%, price fund and advisory costs separately, use one disclosed horizon, and record the tax and suitability review before any trade.

Monday Move

Open one account and find the balance, holding, allocation, and expense ratio. The invoice rarely introduces itself.

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