Trail commission
Market basicsA recurring commission paid out of a scheme’s assets to the distributor who sold it, for as long as the units are held.
In plain terms
It is inside the expense ratio rather than beside it, so it is never billed and never renewed — which is why nobody in the chain has a reason to mention that the direct plan of the same scheme exists. Where genuine advice is being given it can be the cheapest item in a plan; the objection is that it rises with the balance rather than with the work, and does not stop when the advice does.