By the numbers: Over the past 25 years, the average active equity fund had an expense ratio of 95 basis points, according to ICI data analyzed by S&P Dow Jones Indices. In other words, they charged $0.95 per every $100 invested.

During that same period, index funds carried an average expense ratio of just 17 basis points, or $0.17 per $100 invested.

From 1996 to 2020, the amount of money invested in index funds tracking the S&P 500, S&P 400 and S&P 600 ballooned to $5.72 trillion, from $595 billion.

Had those incremental dollars been invested in actively managed funds, investors would’ve paid an extra $357 billion in management fees, S&P Dow Jones Indices analysts estimate.