Costs are likely to be the lowest from FEE-only ADVISERS who don't take commissions, don’t get rewards for selling particular funds, don’t receive 12b-1 kickbacks, don’t sell funds with front-end or back-end loads. They also advocate low cost providers like Vanguard, Fidelity TIAA-CREF, or T. Rowe Price, recommend broad market index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and have low turnover to minimize trading and brokerage costs.
The average mutual fund cost is 1.25%. Low cost funds have costs LESS than 0.5% of the investment balance each year. Broad index funds, based on major market INDEXES like the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX, +0.18% which has stock in 500 of the largest U.S. companies, and the Russell 2000 Index RUT, +0.81% which has stock in 2000 of smaller companies, bought from low-cost financial firms can be significantly lower. Costs are in addition to an adviser’s fee.

Costs are likely to be the lowest from fee-only advisers who don't take commissions, don’t get rewards for selling particular funds, don’t receive 12b-1 kickbacks, don’t sell funds with front-end or back-end loads. They also advocate low cost providers like Vanguard, Fidelity TIAA-CREF, or T. Rowe Price, recommend broad market index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and have low turnover to minimize trading and brokerage costs.
The average mutual fund cost is 1.25%. Low cost funds have costs less than 0.5% of the investment balance each year. Broad index funds, based on major market indexes like the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX, +0.18% which has stock in 500 of the largest U.S. companies, and the Russell 2000 Index RUT, +0.81% which has stock in 2000 of smaller companies, bought from low-cost financial firms can be significantly lower. Costs are in addition to an adviser’s fee.