Basic MF Performance Question

[Trooper]

How are fees considered when viewing a given mutual fund's annual return, as listed on Yahoo or M*?

Are the results net of (reduced by) the fund's expense ratio and 12b-1 fees? What about back-end/front-end loads?

Thanks...

 

[pb4uski]

Returns are after fund expenses.

Who pays loads these days? In any event, returns are usually exclusive of loads unless otherwise indicated.

 

[Sunset]

I have seen MF reported results which in small print off to the side state that fees are not included.

Certainly the return you get are after expenses.

 

[Trooper]

Who pays loads these days?

Don't get me started.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Per Morningstar:

Total Return

Expressed in percentage terms, Morningstar's calculation of total return is determined by taking the change in price, reinvesting, if applicable, all income and capital gains distributions during the period, and dividing by the starting price.
Unless otherwise noted, Morningstar does not adjust total returns for sales charges (such as front-end loads, deferred loads, and redemption fees), preferring to give a clearer picture of performance. Total returns do account for the expense ratio, which includes management, administrative, 12b-1 fees, and other costs that are taken out of assets. Total returns for periods longer than one year are expressed in terms of compounded average annual returns (also known as geometric total returns), affording a more meaningful picture of fund performance than nonannualized figures.

 

[Trooper]

Thanks MasterBlaster

 

[MRG]

Per Morningstar:

That makes sense too. Under certain circumstances those fees can be waived.

 

[Sunset]

That makes sense too. Under certain circumstances those fees can be waived.

Also means if you look at a return of 1->5 years, you need to "manually" subtract the front/back/redemption fees yourself, unless you are special enough for them to give up the 5% (example).