9. The most you should pay in annual fees for a mutual fund is 1% for a large-company stock fund, 1.3% for any other type of stock fund and 0.6% for a U.S. bond fund.
Running a mutual fund isn't free – companies have to pay for research, managers' salaries, and so on. Those costs are borne by the investors in the funds and get deducted from returns. A percentage point here and there may not sound like much, but a fund manager needs to pick a lot of great stocks to make up for those costs.
You don't have to spend a lot of time to put your financial house in order. Money Magazine shows you the easy way. (more)
