While management fees tend to look relatively small, a percentage point here and there can definitely add up. With this in mind, Money Management, using FE Analytics, looked at the management fees and returns of Australian broad cap equity funds to see which funds were charging the lowest fees but still producing top notch returns.
VanEck Australian Equal Weight ETF has one of the lowest-fees for top quartile performance, which is probably not surprising given exchange-traded funds are known for being affordable.
The fund, which has a management fee of 0.35 per cent, aims to track the MVIS Australian Equal Weight index through investing in securities like Evolution Mining, Northern Star Resources, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Newcrest Mining and Coca-Cola Amatil.
The fund returned 15.98 per cent for the year to date, and 15.56 per cent for the three years to date and has a FE Risk Score of 96 (where anything under 100 is less risky than the sector).
BetaShares’ Geared Australian Equity fund has a management fee of 0.74 per cent, which encroaches into the second quartile for fee price, but provided one of the highest returns of the year to date with 24.92 per cent, and for the three years to date with 20.72 per cent.
Platypus Systematic Growth and Macquarie Australian Shares prove a case for active management, with top quartile performance at management fees of 0.41 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.
The Platypus fund returned 19.2 per cent for the year to date and 13.49 per cent for the three years to date, while the Macquarie fund returned 16.29 per cent for the year to date and 18.77 per cent for the three years to date.
Going slightly further back, both of those funds have even shot to the top quartile over five years with the Platypus fund returning 10.88 per cent and the Macquarie fund returning 15.38 per cent.
The chart below tracks the performance of the funds for the three years to date as compared to the generic broad cap index: the S&P ASX 200.
