[updated on July 23, 2007]
In 2002, we published a white paper, "Mutual Fund Costs: Risk Without Reward" which summarized our research and the research of others on the relationship between mutual fund costs and returns. The conclusions were clear and common-sense: an investor can improve his expected returns by investing in low-expense, low-turnover funds and eschewing high-expense, high-turnover funds.
We're now updating our research and examining fund costs and returns up to the present (end of 2006), using the CRSP Survivor-Bias-Free US Mutual Fund Database from the University of Chicago. The exact statistics are only slightly different, and the punchline is the same: lower fund costs lead to higher fund returns. We'll be presenting various illustrations over the next few months and also welcome your suggestions for further analysis.
1) Posted on July 13, 2007: How costs lower the returns of larger-cap U.S. equity funds.
2) Posted on July 16, 2007: How costs lower the returns of Mid-cap U.S. equity funds.
3) Posted on July 17, 2007: How costs lower the returns of Small-cap U.S. equity funds.
4) Posted on July 23, 2007: How costs lower the returns of Tax-Free Muni Bond Funds
Posted at July 23, 2007 05:32 PM | Permalink | Personal Fund Blog Main Page