Barclays Global Investors Canada Ltd. announced Wednesday that July 28 is Fee Freedom Day for Canadian mutual fund investors.

“This weekend Canadian mutual fund investors can celebrate the fact that Fee Freedom Day is finally here. Based on returns over the last five years, this has been the day in the year that Canadian mutual fund investors have stopped paying their managers and started paying themselves — keeping the returns that their savings generate,” said Howard Atkinson, manager of national retail business development at Barclays Canada.

Barclays Canada distributes exchange traded funds, which boast low management expense ratios.

“Fee Freedom Day is just another way of showing how much mutual fund costs matter,” said. Atkinson.

“To determine Fee Freedom Day we express the median MER for mutual funds in the Canadian equity asset category as a percentage of median, pre-MER five-year annual returns for that category,” Atkinson explained. “We then apply that percentage to the days in the year to arrive at the specific date for Fee Freedom Day.”