• Portfolio turnover is a measure of how quickly a fund’s securities are bought or sold by the fund’s managers over a given period of time.

  • Turnover speed is important to potential investors as high rate funds will also have higher fees reflecting the cost of turnover.
  • High rate funds are usually subject to capital gains tax, which is then distributed to investors who may have to pay taxes on that capital gain.
  • Growth mutual funds and any actively managed mutual funds tend to have a higher turnover rate than passive funds.
  • There are several scenarios in which a higher turnover rate results in higher profits overall, thus mitigating the impact of additional fees.