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What Is a Commingled Trust Fund?

By Motley Fool Staff – Updated Feb 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM EST

Key Points

Commingled trust funds group assets into one strategy, overseen by the OCC, not the SEC.
They are cheaper than mutual funds but have less regulatory disclosure, increasing risk.
Only available through certain employer-sponsored retirement plans, not to all investors.

Retirement planning isn't for the faint of heart. You have many options to choose from -- sometimes, too many. Some people may want to consider commingled trust funds on top of typical retirement plans.

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As the value of the investment grows, so do the funds that are part of the commingled trust fund. Just like you'd split a dinner bill with friends, the various funds generally split the proceeds by their contribution to the overall fund.

So, for example, if the retirement plans each contributed 5% of the money to the commingled trust fund, they'd each be entitled to 5% of the profits from the shared investment. They also share the cost of growing the pool of funds in much the same way.

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