Glossary
What is the MER on an ETF?
Updated Reviewed quarterly
MER stands for Management Expense Ratio. It is the same concept as TER (Total Expense Ratio) — the annual fee charged by a fund as a percentage of assets. NZ and Australian fund managers tend to use "MER"; US managers use "TER" or "expense ratio". The number means the same thing.
Smartshares and Kernel publish MER on their fact sheets. Vanguard, State Street, JPMorgan and other US issuers use TER. Both deduct the fee from the fund's daily net asset value — investors never see a separate invoice. When comparing an NZ ETF to a US ETF, compare MER vs TER directly: a Smartshares MER of 0.34% is the same kind of charge as a Vanguard TER of 0.03%.
Where you’ll see this term
