Barclays Global Investors Canada Ltd. says that Fee Freedom Day for Canadian mutual fund investors will fall on April 27 this year.

“Fee Freedom Day is the day in the year that Canadian mutual fund investors stop paying their managers and start paying themselves — keeping the returns that their savings generate,” said Howard Atkinson, head of public funds at Barclays Canada.

Barclays Canada currently manages over $9 billion in exchange traded index funds.

Atkinson noted this year’s date is later than 2004 when it landed on April 12.

According to Barclays Canada, although the median Canadian equity fund MER remained the same as 2004 at 2.70%, the median five- year performance declined slightly, resulting in Fee Freedom Day falling a little later in the year.

“To determine Fee Freedom Day we express the median management expense ratio for mutual funds in the Canadian equity asset category as a percentage of median, pre-MER five-year annual returns for that category — based on year-end 2004 data provided by Globefund,” Atkinson explained. “We then apply that percentage to the days in the year to arrive at the specific date for Fee Freedom Day.”