Cheap CEFs: 7 Closed-End Funds With Unusually Low Fees

Investors looking for a high income stream often balk at closed-end funds (CEFs) because of their higher fees.

CEFs' average annual fees sit at 1.09% (or $109 for every $10,000 invested), according to CEF Insider data, though it's not unusual to see fees in the 3%-4% range. While it's not a perfect comparison, Morningstar data shows that the asset-weighted average fee for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2018 was just 0.48%. And many ETFs are far cheaper than that - SoFi even launched a pair of "zero-fee" funds in April.

Fees matter because they directly impact returns. "The higher the fee, the higher the hurdle for the ETF or mutual fund to keep up with their respective benchmark," says Brian Parker, co-founder and managing director of EP Wealth Advisors in Torrance, California. Fail to keep up with that benchmark, and investors lose. High-cost funds can cost investors literally tens of thousands of dollars not just in the returns themselves, but opportunity cost (you have less money to reinvest and grow over time).

However, it occasionally pays to pay more. CEFs, for instance,