Andrew Shilling

“These are tracking the industries that are supporting the economy and will continue in the post-pandemic world,” an expert says.

Among the decade’s worst performers — those with more than $1 billion in assets under management — were a handful of products with stellar short-term returns.

The decade’s top-performers have produced returns of more than four-times their industry peers this year.

“Investors are going into lower, more passive mutual funds because they don't want to pay the fees,” an expert says.

“Expense ratios matter to most people, particularly when you're looking at these mostly passive funds,” an expert says.

Despite some impressive short-term gains, more than half underperformed their peers over the decade.

Some of the biggest laggards have managed short-term gains of more than 40%.

More than half of these funds have fees higher than 75 basis points.

From regulations to taxes, big changes could be in the offing.

Fees for the category's best performing mutual funds and ETFs are much like the price of bullion: expensive.