Independent · Plain-language · On the investor's side
Even if you're one of the few who reads the fees on your annual statement, you very likely aren't seeing the full cost. Until now, banks and investment firms only had to show you part of it.
Only part of your fees — the trailing commission — shown as a percentage, once a year.
Your full fees — the FER — shown in real dollars, right on your year-end statement.
That's thanks to the latest in a series of consumer-protection regulations known as CRM3. Firms are tracking your total fees in dollars throughout 2026; the first statement carrying that number lands in your hands in early 2027.
Many Canadians hold money in TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and RESPs without fully realizing the money inside is invested — and that those investments carry fees most people have never seen added up.
They also cost you the growth that money would have earned. Over decades, this "fee drag" can add up to a large share of your ending balance. Try it with your own numbers.
Figures are hypothetical and for education only — a lump sum with no further contributions. Actual returns and fees vary with your circumstances and the market.
Yes — unless you want to buy and sell individual stocks and bonds yourself using a no-fee brokerage platform, all investments generally have fees. But the differences between them can be enormous, so it's important to understand how much you're paying, what you get for it, and what the alternatives are.
These are real, widely held Canadian balanced funds — the kind millions of us hold in RRSPs and TFSAs. Same category, same basic job: growing a balanced portfolio. Here's what each one costs per $100,000 invested, every year.
| Fund | Type | MER | Cost per $100,000 / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| TD Comfort Balanced Growth Portfolio Investor Series | Bank balanced mutual fund | 2.02% | $2,020 |
| Scotia Selected Balanced Growth Portfolio Series A | Bank balanced mutual fund | 2.00% | $2,000 |
| RBC Select Balanced Portfolio Series A | Bank balanced mutual fund | 1.94% | $1,940 |
| TD Balanced Index Fund Investor Series | Index mutual fund | 0.89% | $890 |
| Vanguard Balanced ETF Portfolio VBAL | Balanced ETF | 0.24% | $240 |
| iShares Core Balanced ETF Portfolio XBAL | Balanced ETF | 0.20% | $200 |
MERs as of July 2026, from each fund's most recent public disclosures — always confirm on the fund's own Fund Facts. The FER on your statement will be slightly higher, since it adds the fund's trading costs (TER). These funds are named because they're among the most widely held in Canada, not to single any firm out — and none of this is a recommendation. Higher-fee funds typically bundle in advice and service; the question is whether you're getting your money's worth. Sources
The biggest shift is simple: instead of digging for percentages, you'll see the total cost of your investments in plain dollars.
Statements only showed direct fees — things like transaction costs or advisor fees.
Total costs. Statements show direct fees plus the embedded costs baked into the products you own, like fund management fees.
Embedded fees were buried in separate documents, expressed as percentages most people never converted to dollars.
Real dollar amounts. All fees are combined and shown in hard dollars, right on your main year-end statement.
You had to track down the MER and TER yourself and add them up.
One new figure: the Fund Expense Ratio (FER) — a single number showing the total cost of your fund.
The new reporting rules cover the most common types of investments held by Canadians — but not everything.
If you own these, expect dollar-based fee reporting.
These products fall outside the current rules.
Four acronyms do most of the work. Here's the one equation that ties them together — then tap any term for plain English.
The industry is already tracking this data to prepare your future statements.
In plain terms: the data is for 2026, but the statement carrying it is issued at the start of 2027.
Sometime in early 2027 — typically January — your 2026 year-end statement lands, and for the first time it shows your full investment costs in dollars. Here's how to handle that moment.
The dollar figure may be startling, but nothing has been added to what you pay. You were paying these fees all along — you just couldn't see them. What's new is the visibility, not the cost. If anyone frames the number as a change in what you pay, that's wrong: it's a change in what you're shown.
Look for the section called the Annual Report on Charges and Compensation on your year-end statement. It shows your fund expenses in dollars, plus any charges you paid directly.
Divide the fee total by your account balance. For example, $4,000 in fees on a $200,000 account is 2% a year. For context: the median balanced Series A mutual fund charges about 2%, while balanced ETFs run about 0.2–0.3%.
Bring the advisor questions to your next portfolio review. If the answers don't satisfy you, you have real options — and no obligation to stay put.
Bring these simple, direct questions to your next portfolio review to get ahead of the new disclosures.
"Based on my current investments, what dollar amount of fees will I see on my next year-end statement?"
"Are my investments growing enough to justify paying these embedded fees?"
"Are there lower-cost options, like ETFs, that could do the same job for less?"
"How are these fees affecting how long my money will last once I'm withdrawing it?"
A good advisor will welcome these questions. Vague answers are also information.
You don't have to wait for the new statement. In three steps you can estimate your real annual cost today — even across several funds in different accounts. It can get more complicated if you hold investments through a broker, an investment firm other than a bank, or a self-directed online investing platform — the steps below may not cover every situation. You can always ask your advisor to confirm your total fees, or get help.
Log in to each investment account — TFSA, RRSP, RRIF, RESP, non-registered — and note every fund you own and its current dollar value. Each fund has a name like Fidelity Growth International and sometimes a corresponding fund code. Your listing or statement should also show a series for the fund, such as RBC Select Balanced — A. You'll need to know which series you're in, because most funds and ETFs have multiple series, each with different costs. Need help?
Search the fund name or code together with "Fund Facts" to find its FER (or at least its MER). It's shown as a percentage.
Then check for fees that sit outside the fund. Some accounts — often self-directed or fee-based investment accounts — charge a separate account fee (sometimes called an administration, platform, or annual fee) on top of each fund's FER. It may be a flat dollar amount or a percentage of your balance, and it usually shows up on your statement rather than in the Fund Facts. Add it in too, so your total reflects everything you actually pay. Need help?
Enter each fund below with the dollar amount you hold and its fee. The calculator works out the yearly cost of each, your blended fee, and your total fees every year.
Estimate only. Confirm exact fees on each fund's official Fund Facts document. GICs, cash and individual stocks generally have no embedded fund fee — leave them out of the fund rows, but do include them in your total portfolio value above.
There's no single right answer — each option trades cost against convenience and support. We don't recommend any of them, and we earn nothing from any of them. We just think you should know they exist.
Full-service advice can be worth what it costs — if you're actually getting financial planning, tax strategy, and someone who keeps you invested through rough markets, not just a portfolio. Ask your advisor to spell out exactly what your fee buys.
Many funds come in multiple series: the Series A you may hold, a discount Series D for self-directed accounts, and a Series F for fee-based accounts. Same fund, same manager — meaningfully lower embedded fee. One question to your firm can reveal what you qualify for.
All-in-one balanced ETFs do the same job as a balanced mutual fund for a fraction of the cost — see the comparison above. You can hold them yourself through a discount brokerage, or have a robo-advisor manage them for you for a modest all-in fee.
Advice-only (fee-for-service) planners charge a flat or hourly fee for advice and sell no products at all — so there are no embedded fees and no incentive to steer you anywhere. Pair one with low-cost investments and you've unbundled advice from product entirely.
No — and this is the most important thing on this page. Nothing has been added to what you pay. Firms are now required to show fees that were always being deducted from your investments. If the number on your 2026 statement surprises you, that surprise is exactly why the rule exists.
On $100,000, a 2% fee is $2,000 every year, whether your investments grow or not. And because that money also stops compounding for you, the long-run effect is much bigger — try the fee-drag calculator. Whether it's too much depends on what you get in return: real planning and guidance, or just a portfolio.
Almost certainly not. Statements before the change only had to show fees you paid directly — so if everything was embedded inside your funds, the line could read $0 while you paid thousands inside the funds. That's precisely the gap the 2026 reporting closes.
Group plans hold funds with management fees too — often lower than the retail versions, but not zero. Disclosure format depends on your plan's provider, and many group plans are run by insurance companies, which follow the parallel insurance-industry rules. Either way, you can find each fund's fee in your plan portal or by asking the plan administrator.
They have no embedded ongoing fund fee, so the new reporting doesn't change much for them. Their costs show up differently — interest-rate spreads on GICs, trading commissions on stocks. The new rules are aimed at funds, where the invisible fees live.
Regulators have been tightening disclosure in phases for over a decade. CRM2 (2016) forced statements to show commissions and direct charges in dollars — but the fund's own management fee, usually the biggest cost, was left out. CRM3 finally closes that gap. Better late than never; better informed than late.
We're independent Canadians who think everyone should know what their investments actually cost. That's the whole agenda.
Nothing here is for sale: no products, no referrals, no affiliate links, no advertising, and no data collection. We're not affiliated with any bank, fund company, dealer, or regulator. We publish under a collective name, so judge us the way you'd judge any claim — by the sources. Every number on this site is linked to where it came from, and if a figure can't be sourced, we don't publish it.
Finding the exact series and FER for every fund you hold can be fiddly. You don't have to do it alone.
If you work with an advisor, bank, or planner, you can simply ask them to confirm the FER — and the exact series — for each fund you hold. They have this information and are required to share it.
Prefer an unbiased second opinion? An advice-only planner — one who charges for advice and sells no products — can review your statements and calculate your total fees with no stake in what you hold. Directories like FP Canada's planner search let you filter for fee-for-service planners. We have no affiliation with anyone listed there.