Are You Paying Too Much for Your Mutual Fund?

Expense ratios for stock and bond mutual funds fell in 2015 to the lowest level in at least 20 years. Unfortunately, not all funds passed along savings to their shareholders, said Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF & Mutual Fund Research at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Rosenbluth said there are a number of factors that contributed to the 2015 decline, some of which are tied to the strong inflows into passive products. In 2015, seven of the top-10 mutual fund asset gatherers were passive products offered by Vanguard, including four equity ones, according to Rosenbluth. 'As more money flowed into lower-cost passive funds, the overall expense ratio has come down,' said Rosenbluth.