The cheapness of some mutual fund companies! They spend little or nothing on marketing, and what happens? Some rather excellent low-fee mutual funds go unnoticed by many investors.
The Portfolio Strategy column’s all-star team of low-fee mutual fund companies aims to fix this problem. These are companies offering funds that combine much lower than average fees with consistently solid returns. If you’re looking for core funds for long-term investing, this list makes a good starting point for your research.
The list was compiled by running the universe of Canadian mutual funds through the fund filters on the GlobeinvestorGold website (gold.globeinvestor.com). Equity funds were required to have management expense ratios of 1.5 per cent or less, and bond funds had to come in at 1 per cent or less.
To ensure consistent performance, funds had to rank in the first or second quartile for the past three-, five- and 10-year periods. Quartiles divide funds in a category into four groups according to their returns – the first and second quartiles are where you want to be if you own a fund.
The next step was to organize the remaining funds by the companies that offer them. Only companies offering more than one qualifying fund are included here.
