Glossary › Ongoing costs
Ongoing costs summarise what a fund deducts from investors’ assets every year for management, custody and operation, stated as a percentage per year.
The figure is stated in the key information document (PRIIPs KID), which every fund for retail investors must publish. It includes the management fee, costs of custody, administration and audit and, for funds of funds, often also the costs of the underlying funds. One-off costs such as the front-end load are not included; transaction costs and performance fees are shown separately in the key information document.
Semi-liquid funds are considerably more expensive than index funds. Costs of 2 to 3% a year are common, and funds of funds with two layers of fees are higher. Because the costs arise year after year, even tenths of a percentage point matter over a long holding period. Only figures of the same kind should be compared: some providers show only the management fee in presentations, which is well below the ongoing costs.
An ongoing cost figure is available for 116 funds in the database. The median is 2.41% a year, ranging from 0.7% to 7.28%. The market data page shows the medians per asset class.
Lowest, middle and highest ongoing costs · as at 16 Oct 2026
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