MutualFundWire.com: USAA's Quiet Fee Hike
MutualFundWire.com
   The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
Tuesday, October 31, 2000

USAA's Quiet Fee Hike


USAA has closed the Aggressive Growth Fund to new investors and launched four new funds. The fund was closed after investors voted down a proposed fee increase. One of the four new funds features the same investment objective and fund manager but sports a higher management fee.

"We took this action to close the fund because under its current fee structure the USAA Aggressive Growth Fund had become uneconomical," said Michael Roth, president and CEO of USAA Investment Management Company.

The fund's management fees are based on a sliding scale of assets, decreasing relative compensation as the fund grows. The fund presently yields a 59 basis point cost ratio, almost a third of the small cap fund industry average of 155.

Although more than half of shareholders voted to change to a set percentage, they missed the two-thirds mark necessary to change the fee structure.

The Aggressive Growth fund was opened in 1981.

USAA's Capital Growth Fund serves to replace the Aggressive Growth Fund with similar investment principles and the same managers but a more lucrative fee structure.

In addition, three new index fund products complement USAA's S&P 500 Index Fund. USAA's Nasdaq-100 Index Fund is the first retail Nasdaq index fund available to the public.

The newly opened funds are:

  • Capital Growth Fund
  • Nasdaq-100 Index Fund
  • Extended Market Index Fund
  • Global Titans Index Fund



    Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=25959

    Copyright 2000, InvestmentWires, Inc.
    All Rights Reserved