What’s changing?

Previously, our website and your client statements show the fees you pay for our advice and services, including costs of managing the fund, operational expenses, fund manager costs, and taxes. We refer to this as the One Simple Fee - commonly known as the Management Expense Ratio (MER). Unlike most firms that layer advice fees on top of the MER, we roll it all together so you know exactly what you’ll pay upfront.

Starting this year, it will also include Trading Expense Ratio (TER) – the variable cost of buying and selling securities within the fund, which is incurred as part of trading activities. These costs have always existed and are already reflected in your fund returns, though they were previously reported “under the hood.”

When combined, the MER and TER make up the Fund Expense Ratio (FER).

Under a new regulatory requirement called Total Cost Reporting, all firms must now show these fund-level costs in dollar terms in your statements. We’re big fans of this new disclosure and have advocated the regulators for it. Going forward, you can think of the FER as the One Simple Fee — a complete and transparent view of the total cost of investing in the fund.

To make it clear, your fees are NOT going up — nothing new is being charged. You’ll just see a more complete breakdown, combining both the fees you pay Steadyhand and the fund-level expenses. Think of it like an airline ticket: the total price you paid has always included things like airport fees and fuel charges, even if they weren’t shown separately. Total Cost Reporting is simply itemizing those components so you can see how the total is made up.

Why the change?

The goal is to have the greatest transparency possible. While fund expenses have always been disclosed in documents like Fund Facts, many investors have not seen them clearly summarized in a single place. Regulators believe the new requirement gives a complete view of what it costs to invest, without having to dig through multiple sources. And we agree.

At Steadyhand, we continue to prioritize straightforward communication with investors. We support this change because we believe investors should have an easy-to-understand view of all their fees, without fine print or extra effort. In many ways, it brings the rest of the industry closer to the standard we’ve always upheld. 

There’s nothing for you to do — we’ll continue to handle the reporting, and you’ll start to see the updated format on the website in January 2026 and in your 2027 client statements.

As always, our team is here to answer any questions and help you understand your statements. Please call us at 1-888-888-3147.