Index Fund Wars

Here’s one fund company’s marketing ploy we can get behind: In October, ETF giant BlackRock slashed fees on 15 of its most popular funds, including iShares Core S&P 500, from 0.07% to 0.04%. Less than a week later, Schwab responded by slashing fees on five of its own ETFs, including one of its core bond options.

Fidelity and Vanguard have also attracted attention with their own cuts, announced in June and December 2015. The fee cuts won’t save investors a ton of money; and of course, fund companies love the free publicity they’re getting for it. But investors are coming out winners in the long run, says Tom Roseen, head of research services at fund analyst Lipper: “It puts pressure on the whole industry to keep costs in check.”