Fund Fees Drop at Record Pace With Investors Opting for Cheap Choices

• April 26 2018
• Charles Stein

The price of investing is falling at a record rate.

The price of investing is falling at a record rate.

The average asset-weighted fee paid on U.S. mutual funds and exchange-traded funds declined by about 8 percent to 52 cents per $100 invested last year, according to a report from Morningstar Inc. The drop was the biggest in the research firm’s data going back to 2000.

The cheapest 20 percent of funds, a group dominated by passive products, attracted almost $1 trillion in fresh customer cash in 2017, while the rest of the industry suffered net outflows of about $250 billion, the report found.

“The message investors are sending is crystal clear,” Morningstar analyst Patricia Oey said in a statement. “Cost counts.”