Mutual fund investors may incur higher fees; New expense data show a mixed bag.(News)

Byline: David Hoffman NEW YORK - While a growing number of mutual funds are cutting expenses, the average shareholder actually may be paying more to invest in mutual funds. The asset-weighted average total expense ratio, which represents what the average investor is paying for open-end funds, stood at 0.785% at the end of 2005, up slightly from 0.774% in 2004, according to Lipper Inc.

of New York Meanwhile, the median expense ratio of open-end funds dropped to 1.256% at the end of 2005, from 1.279% a year earlier, Lipper stated in a report released two weeks ago. The new expense data come in the wake of the 2003-04 mutual fund trading scandal, which led to hundreds of millions in fund fee cuts. But according to Lipper, the drop in the...

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