032. Mutual Fund Expenses and Investment Performa

The expense ratio is the annual fee that all funds or ETFs charge their shareholders. It expresses the percentage of assets deducted each fiscal year for fund expenses, including 12b-1 fees, management fees, administrative fees, operating costs, and all other asset-based costs incurred by the fund.

Portfolio transaction fees, or brokerage costs, as well as initial or deferred sales charges are not included in the expense ratio. The expense ratio, which is deducted from the fund's average net assets, is accrued on a daily basis. The following ranking of funds and ETFs was made from a listing of over 2,000 entries.

The mutual fund fees range down from 9.79% of the total market price of the fund while the 3-year market returns show a range that fluctuates between a low value of  -21.02% and the top value of +8.94%. The choice of a mutual fund as a repository for a retiree’s savings can be seen as a gamble.

SOURCE: http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=PAMVX&region=usa&culture=en_US