Stats Active, passive and flows Fund fees

An equity fund charges 0.40%, an index ETF 0.14%

Equity
mutual funds
0.4%
Bond
mutual funds
0.36%
Money
market
0.24%
Index equity
ETFs
0.14%
Index bond
ETFs
0.09%

An index equity ETF costs roughly a third of what the average equity mutual fund does. Source: Investment Company Institute, Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds 2025.

Every fund keeps a slice of the money each year, whether the fund rises or falls. The average US equity mutual fund charges 0.40% a year and an index equity ETF 0.14%. That gap of 0.26 percentage points is the one cost known in advance.

0.40%Average equity mutual fund
0.14%Index equity ETF
0.09%Index bond ETF
62%Equity fee fall since 1996

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