Mutual Fund MERs are plain robbery

As of late we've all experienced incredible losses in our investment portfolios. Because of this I've paid a lot more attention to the details of the monthly transactions as executed within my portfolio. What I became aware of, and maybe I should have known anyways, is that the Management Expense Ratio (or MER) is approximately 2.5% of the total portfolio.

In this pathetic financial market, that essentially means:

1. Any contributions to my RSP are being eaten away by fees.
2. I'm actually paying people to loose money for me (I can do it myself for free).

This weekend I did some comparisons to gauge weather I'm being shafted by my investment advisor (figuratively and literally). Turns out that as Canadians we pay a hell of a lot in Mutual Fund management fees. US investors pay around .5% where Canadians pay anywhere between 1%-3% depending on the complexity or company managing the the fund. The government needs to regulate this.

I compared the ING Streetwise portfolio with mine, and although not exactly the same asset classes it's close:
a. It outperformed mine, i.e. lost less
b. management fees are under 1%

My group RSP is also outperforming my so called "managed porfolio".

I also fail to see what value I'm getting from my broker compared to my other RSP accounts. Not much difference except for a few personalized calls per year and an electronic retirement plan. I think I'd be better off going self directed if I can get $9 per trade.

Anyways, this weekend I'll be sending her a pretty terse email to start the ball rolling on changes for 2009.