New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced today that after an industrywide investigation into mutual fund disclosures and fees, 13 major mutual fund firms have agreed to voluntarily publish important information about their mutual funds to all retail investors. Under the agreements announced today, the firms will disclose new information that can help retail investors determine whether a higher-cost, actively managed mutual fund fits their investment goals better than a lower-cost alternative. On average, fees on an investment in an actively managed fund cost an investor almost four and a half times more per year than fees on an investment in a passive fund, according to an investigation report released by Schneiderman’s office. The newly disclosed information, known as Active Share, measures the percentage of stock holdings in a fund’s portfolio that differs from that fund’s benchmark index. The investigation found that while these major mutual fund firms regularly disclosed this information to well-heeled institutional and professional investors, retail investors were often excluded.