MERs can range from less than 1% for money market funds to more than 3% for some specialty funds. More complex funds tend to have higher MERs because the manager needs to do more to effectively manage the fund, and these funds are more costly to run. Index funds usually have very low MERs because duplicating an index involves less research and less trading. For this reason, they often outperform actively managed funds over the long term. However, keep in mind that a low MER doesn’t necessarily mean more money in your pocket. For example, you’ll make more on a fund.
