A.I.M. Users Bulletin Board

[OldAIMGuy]

Hi R, Re: Commissions...............

For my part, I agree with the commissions that your way is one way. The other would be to use $7.10 as the cost per share which would include the commission and would automatically reduce the cash without a separate transaction.

Keeping track of the costs of shares including commissions and tracking gains after commission cost is very important. If the trade costs $10 going both directions, you certainly want to account for it since maybe the gain on the sale would be gross $210 making the net $190. You will only pay Uncle Sam on the Net, so it's worth tracking.

Relative to the Annual Expense Ratio of mutual funds, ETFs, CEFs etc:
I see no need to keep track of such a number inside AIM since you never see it anyway and don't write a separate check for it. The AER is deducted from the net asset value of those investments and you never see it. Since you can't buy the investment without it, why bother to track it? One can't get a better discount on the AER either. It's an uncontrollable cost of doing buisness and isn't factored into the Bid/Ask range or any other aspect. Also, it doesn't figure in to taxation of capital gain in any direct and measurable way.

Best regards,