What are transaction costs?

Transaction costs are the expenses incurred when buying or selling a good or service. Transaction costs represent the labor required to bring a good or service to market, giving rise to entire industries dedicated to facilitating trade. From a financial perspective, transaction costs include broker fees commissions and spreads, which are the differences between the price the broker paid for a security and the price the buyer pays.

Understanding Transaction Costs

Transaction costs for buyers and sellers are the payments that banks and brokers receive for their roles. There are also transaction costs when buying and selling real estate, which include agent commission and closing costs, such as title search fees, appraisal fees and government fees. Another type of transaction cost is the time and labor associated with transporting goods or merchandise over long distances.

Transaction costs are important to investors because they are one of the main determinants of net returns. Transaction costs decrease returns, and over time high transaction costs can mean thousands of dollars lost not only because of the costs themselves, but also because the costs reduce the amount of capital available to invest. . Fees, such as mutual fund expense ratios, have the same effect. Different asset classes have different ranges of standard transaction costs and fees. All other things being equal, investors should select assets with costs at the low end of the range for their types.

Elimination of transaction costs

When transaction costs fall, an economy becomes more efficient and more capital and labor are freed up to produce wealth. A change of this nature is not without growing pains, as the labor market must adapt to its new environment.

One type of transaction cost is a communication barrier. When a perfectly matched seller and buyer have absolutely no means of communication, the transaction costs of a deal are too high to overcome. A bank acts as an intermediary in linking savings to investments and a prosperous economy justifies the bank’s income for the transaction cost of compiling information and connecting the parties.

However, the information age, especially the influx of the Internet and telecommunications, has greatly reduced the barriers to communication. Consumers no longer need large institutions and their agents to make informed purchases. For this reason, the survival of the insurance agent is threatened by a wide range of technology startups who operate websites selling or promoting insurance policies. The easy access to information and communication offered by the Internet has also threatened the livelihood of jobs such as real estate agent, stockbroker and car salesman. It is considered that which destroyed Scottrade.

Essentially, the prices of many goods and services have fallen due to a reduction in communication barriers between ordinary individuals. Retailers and merchandisers also act as intermediaries, linking consumers with manufacturers. The retail trade has also been turned upside down in recent years, with e-commerce company Amazon.co.uk surpassing traditional giants such as Kohl’s and Macy’s in a composite score based on assets, revenue and market value.

Example of transaction costs

The average annual transaction cost for a mutual fund in the United States was 1.44%, according to a study by researchers Roger Edelen, Richard Evans and Gregory Kadlec. The first of these costs are brokerage commissions when a fund manager buys or sells a stock. Low turnover funds will pay less brokerage feeseven though they may pay more than individual investors.

A large mutual fund may also incur market impact costs, where the large purchase of shares in the fund artificially drives up the price. Some managers reduce these costs by spreading their purchases over longer periods. Finally, the mutual fund will face spread costs, which may be greater when the manager trades stocks on global exchanges or on less liquid exchanges.