Mutual Funds and ETFs

Mutual Funds and ETFs
September 2026

The State of US ETFs 2026

Morningstar

Zachary Evens, Daniel Sotiroff

Research

30 Pages

Morningstar examines how the US ETF market has evolved from broad passive funds into a $15.8 trillion ecosystem spanning active, derivative-based, and niche strategies.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
August 2026

US Active/Passive Barometer

Morningstar

Research

44 Pages

Actively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds made up some ground from July 2025 through June 2026 but still lagged their average passive peer.

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Annual Report
June 2026

A Comprehensive Guide to ETFs (2nd edition) Module 2: Evaluating ETFs

CFA Institute

Joanne Hill, Elisabeth Kashner

Research

63 Pages

This paper explains how investors can evaluate ETFs using an Efficiency, Tradability, and Fit framework rather than relying on fees alone.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
May 2026

2026 US Fund Fee Study

Morningstar

Zachary Evens, Brendan McCann

Research

42 Pages

Morningstar finds that US mutual fund and ETF investors continued paying lower fees in 2025, extending a two decade decline in fund costs.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
April 2026

Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds, 2025

ICI

Research

19 Pages

Investment Company Institute reviews how fund fees kept drifting lower in 2025 as investors continued favoring cheaper structures and index products.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
April 2026

Sizing the ETF Opportunity: Active ETFs Move to Center Stage

Citi

Research

7 Pages

Citi Research examines how the ETF industry is shifting from broad passive adoption toward a more active and differentiated phase.

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Financial History
April 2026

50 years. 50 facts. Indexing since 1976.

Vanguard

Article

5 Pages

Vanguard shared 50 facts from 50 years of index investing.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
April 2026

Target Date Funds Primer

Meketa

Hannah Schriner, Alison Adams

Research

8 Pages

Meketa Investment Group explains why target date funds now dominate defined contribution plans and why similarly dated funds can still lead to different outcomes.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
December 2025

Levered Single-Stock ETFs

Hendrik Bessembinder

Research

58 Pages

Hendrik Bessembinder examines how constant leverage strategies behave over time, focusing on levered single stock exchange traded funds.

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Annual Report
December 2025

Charles Schwab ETFs and Beyond Study

Charles Schwab

Research

49 Pages

Charles Schwab presents its 2025 ETFs and Beyond Study on how individual investors use ETFs across their portfolios.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs
November 2025

What Short-Term Fund Performance Tells Us About Future Returns

Morningstar

Daniel Sotiroff, Eugene Gorbatikov

Article

10 Pages

Morningstar analyzes persistence in mutual fund and ETF performance to see whether top quartile winners stay on top.

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Wealth Management
September 2025

ETFs 2025: Cheap, Fat, Starving for Attention

Dave Nadig

Research

18 Pages

David Nadig gave a presentation on the state of the ETF industry: Cheap, Fat, Starving for Attention.

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Wealth Management
May 2025

A Comprehensive Guide to ETFs (2nd Edition)

CFA Institute

Dave Nadig, Elisabeth Kashner, Joanne Hill

Research

60 Pages

The CFA Institute’s 2nd edition of A Comprehensive Guide to ETFs provides an updated, neutral overview of the ETF ecosystem.

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Wealth Management
May 2025

2024 US Fund Fee Study

Morningstar

Zachary Evens, Bryan Armour

Research

42 Pages

Morningstar’s 2024 U.S. Fund Fee Study finds that investors paid record-low costs as the asset-weighted average expense ratio declined to 0.34% in 2024, less than half of its level two decades ago.

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Wealth Management
March 2025

Investment Company Fact Book

ICI

Research

154 Pages

The 2025 Investment Company Institute Fact Book provides a comprehensive snapshot of the global asset management industry.

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Markets
March 2025

When the Market Outgrows the Index

TCW

David Vick

Research

3 Pages

TCW’s report examines the limitations of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the "Agg") in representing the full spectrum of fixed income opportunities.

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Wealth Management
November 2024

Diversification properties and risk-adjusted performance of security lending

State Street

Travis Whitmore

Research

29 Pages

State Street conducted a deep dive on securities lending, noting that while the returns may seem small on an absolute basis, it provides strong risk-adjusted returns, offers diversification benefits due to low correlation with other investments, and performs especially well during market crises.

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Wealth Management
October 2024

Mutual Funds & Unicorns

Morningstar

Jack Shannon

Research

22 Pages

This report examines mutual funds’ investments in private-company equities over the past decade, evaluating return potential, liquidity constraints, and structural inefficiencies.

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Wealth Management
December 2023

Mutual Funds 2030

PWC

Research

22 Pages

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Wealth Management
September 2023

Securities Lending Provides Value. But Is It Enough To Make a Bad Fund Good?

Morningstar

Zachary Evens, Lan Anh Tran

Research

9 Pages

Morningstar explains how securities lending works inside mutual funds and ETFs and what it means for investors who own those funds.

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Wealth Management
April 2023

ETFs 2027: A world of new possibilities

PWC

Research

17 Pages

PwC examines how the global ETF market could develop by 2027 and where the next wave of growth may come from.

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Wealth Management
October 2022

Tracking Unicorn Companies in U.S. Mutual Funds

Morningstar

Jack Shannon, Katie Reichart

Research

24 Pages

Morningstar explains how U.S. equity mutual funds have increasingly owned private company shares and why that can backfire.

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Wealth Management
March 2021

No Room on the ARK?

Morningstar

Research

11 Pages

Morningstar examines ARK Invest’s flagship strategy, questioning whether its innovation-driven approach can sustain performance given valuation levels and portfolio construction. The paper digs into concentration, turnover, and speculative growth assumptions, suggesting that past returns may not be a reliable guide.

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Wealth Management
December 2020

The Role of Taxes in the Rise of ETFs

Research

148 Pages

This paper argues that a lesser-known yet economically significant tax-deferral feature of ETFs’ security design is crucial to their success.

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Wealth Management
September 2020

Global ETF Survey 2020

TrackInsight

Jean-René Giraud

Research

108 Pages

TrackInsight’s Global ETF Survey explores how professional investors used ETFs during the COVID-driven market shock, focusing on liquidity, portfolio construction, and shifting demand across strategies.

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Wealth Management
October 2019

What Is A Mutual Fund Worth?

Vanguard

Andrew S. Clarke

Research

8 Pages

Vanguard examines how much value mutual funds actually create by quantifying the benefits of diversification versus concentrated stock picking.

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Wealth Management
May 2018

2018 Target-Date Fund Landscape: Sizing Up the Trillion-Dollar, Increasingly Passive Giant

Morningstar

Jeff Holt, Heather Larsen

Research

61 Pages

Morningstar examines how target date funds evolved in 2018 as investors favored cheaper collective investment trusts and passive strategies.

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Wealth Management
April 2018

U.S. Fund Fee Study: Average Fund Fees Paid by Investors Decreased 8% in 2017, the Largest One-Year Decline Ever

Morningstar

Patricia Oey

Research

12 Pages

Morningstar analyzes long-term trends in U.S. mutual fund and ETF fees, highlighting how investor behavior and industry competition are steadily pushing costs lower.

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Wealth Management
March 2018

How Long Can a Good Fund Underperform Its Benchmark?

Morningstar

Paul Kaplan, Maciej Kowara

Research

20 Pages

Morningstar explores how long even skilled active managers can lag their benchmark and still ultimately outperform, challenging the way investors evaluate fund performance.

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Wealth Management
June 2017

ETF Semi Annual Review

Morgan Stanley

Michael Jabara, John Duggan

Research

481 Pages

Morgan Stanley examines the accelerating growth of US listed ETFs and how investors are using them across equities, fixed income, and alternatives.

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Wealth Management
May 2015

A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

CFA Institute

Joanne Hill

Research

202 Pages

This paper examines how ETFs evolved from niche trading vehicles into a $2.9 trillion global market shaping portfolio construction, liquidity, and investor behavior.

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Wealth Management
April 2014

Desperately Seeking Alpha

Cerulli Associates

Research

24 Pages

This paper examines how rising fiscal deficits, sticky inflation, and shifting global capital flows could reshape long term market assumptions.

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Wealth Management
November 2013

The Next Generation of ETFs: Why Every Asset Manager Needs an ETF Strategy

PWC

Paul Schaeffer

Research

24 Pages

PwC examines how ETFs are evolving beyond passive index investing into broader portfolio construction tools that could reshape asset management.

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Wealth Management
September 2012

ETF Report

Invesco

Research

32 Pages

This paper examines how leading fixed income investors viewed the bond market heading into 2013 amid record low yields, slowing global growth, and mounting sovereign debt concerns.

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Wealth Management
May 1967

The Performance of Mutual Funds in the Period 1945-1964

Michael Jensen

Research

37 Pages

This paper examines whether mutual fund managers can outperform after accounting for portfolio risk, introducing the measure now known as Jensen’s alpha.

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