The strong performance of the stock market over the past few years has resulted in a side bonus for individual investors. Not only have their assets been appreciating, but because fund companies have been doing so well, mutual fund fees have been dropping, too.
Ten years ago, the average fund's expense ratio was about 1 percent, meaning investors had to pay out $100 in expenses for every $10,000 in assets they had invested. That's now down to 0.74 percent, according to the Investment Company Institute.
In addition to expense fees, many mutual funds also charge what's known as a load, or an upfront charge to invest in that fund. Not surprisingly, those have been dropping, too. According to the ICI, the average load is down 75 percent since 1990.
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