Mutual funds must give fee info to investors before they buy

Mutual funds must now provide key info to investors

By Special to MoneySense on May 30, 2016
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Companies must give 'fund facts' before investors buy

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TORONTO – A new safeguard is now in place to help protect mutual fund investors. Effective Monday, mutual fund companies are required to provide investors key information on things like a fund’s performance and fees before they buy. The so-call “fund facts” document mandated by securities regulators is the final step in improvements to mutual fund disclosure rules that began more than five years ago that are aimed at ensuring investors receive the information they need. A fund facts statement is a brief document written in plain language with basic details about a fund, including an explanation of expenses and fees and investor rights and is issued in addition to a fund’s prospectus. Best mutual funds 2016 » Mutual fund companies have been required to post a fund facts document on their website since 2011, and changes in 2014 required fund companies to deliver the document within two days of an investor buying a mutual fund. Now they get must get it before making the purchase. The change in mutual fund disclosure rules isn’t the only one investors will see this year. New rules are coming July 15 for the relationship between financial advisers and their clients. They will introduce new reporting requirements for investment advisers when it comes to the disclosure of fees and the performance of their investments.