Where's the value? Trusts and OEICs battle it out on cost

Counting the cost

As investment costs continue to come under scrutiny, FE's Joshua Ausden asks whether investment trusts can still claim to be cheaper than their open-ended rivals.

There was a time when lower costs were highlighted as one of the principle advantages investment trusts had over open-ended funds.  Before the introduction of clean share classes, it was very difficult to compare the costs of the two types of vehicle, with most funds including platform fees in their official figures. More often than not however, lower headline charges for trusts led many to suspect they were better value for money.  Nowadays investment trusts and funds are on a more even playing field, and the latter often come out on top. Across the majority of mainstream sectors, in...