The expense ratios for exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded notes (ETNs) for the third quarter have just been tallied up.
The findings were that in most funds, the increases were few. If there were any, they were modest, reports ETF Guide. The median expense ratio for 727 products across all categories was 0.49%.
The largest ETF area is industry and sector, with 175 ETFs to represent it, and the average expense ratio was 0.58%. Global and international is the second-largest area, with 144 ETFs. The average expense ratio was 0.51%. The cheapest ETFs are those in the fixed-income area. The average expense ratio for all 62 funds is 0.20%.
Mutual fund fees also are coming down, and have been since 1980, reports the Investment Company Institute. Back then, fees were an average of 2.32%. In 2007, they were an average of 1.02%
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