costs
Friction is a position
The rule
Every repeated cost quietly eats your result, whether it is called brokerage, spread, tax, platform fee, or convenience.
Where it flips
The lowest visible cost can still be poor value if the service, safety, or tax treatment is weak. Where it misleads: you chase the cheapest sticker. The fix: weigh what you pay against what you truly get.
A cost does not need to look big to hurt you. Small charges, paid again and again, add up. The habit is to find every cost line and ask one thing: what useful work does this cost actually do for me?
A worked example
A low brokerage number can still sit next to spread, tax on each sale, heavy trading, and poor buying and selling prices. Add them all up. That full drag is the real cost. [illustrative]
How to spot it
- ·charges you pay again and again
- ·a hidden gap between the buy price and the sell price
- ·buying and selling more than you need to
- ·a fee with no clear service behind it
John C. Bogle · The Little Book of Common Sense Investing