Putnam cuts fees on absolute-return and lifecycle funds

Putnam Investments has significantly lowered the expense ratios on its slate of Absolute Return funds and its RetirementReady Lifecycle funds. At the highest end, Putnam trimmed fees on its Absolute Return 100 Fund by 54%, lowering the total expense cap to 0.4% of fund average net assets. This particular fund aims to outperform inflation, as measured by Treasury bills, by 1%, net of all fund expenses. The 300 version of the fund took a 37% cut in expenses, bringing its new total expense cap to 0.6% of fund average net assets. Fees have also reduced on the 500 and 700 versions of the fund, falling by 24% to 0.9% of fund average net assets on the former, and 18% to 1.1% of fund average net assets on the latter. The new expense caps are based on Putnam's contractual obligation to limit the funds' total expenses through at least Feb. 28, 2012. Accordingly, Putnam has also trimmed expenses for its suite of 10 target date funds. The expense ratio of the RetirementReady Maturity Fund, which is designed for investors already retired, will be reduced by 24%, to 0.74% of fund average net assets. The most costly fund, RetirementReady 2050, will experience a 4% reduction in expense ratios, bringing the new expense ratio to 1.04%. The decision to bring down fees was made about a year after Putnam had decided to cut management fees for a number of its fixed-income, asset allocation and target-date funds. At the time, the average expense ratio on its fixed-income funds fell to 0.92% from 0.96%. Further, the firm dropped its 0.05% wrap fee on the RetirementReady funds, reducing the average expense ratio to 1.15%, from 1.25%.