 Investors looking for a high income stream often balk at closed-end funds CEFs because of their higher fees.CEFs average annual fees sit at 1.09 or 109 for every 10,000 invested, according to CEF Insider data, though its not unusual to see fees in the 3-4 range. While its not a perfect comparison, Morningstar data shows that the asset-weighted average fee for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds ETFs in 2018 was just 0.48. And many ETFs are far cheaper than that - SoFi even launched a pair of zero-fee funds in April.Fees matter because they directly impact returns. The higher the fee, the higher the hurdle for the ETF or mutual fund to keep up with their respective benchmark, says Brian Parker, co-founder and managing director of EP Wealth Advisors in Torrance, California. Fail to keep up with that benchmark, and investors lose. High-cost funds can cost investors literally tens of thousands of dollars not just in the returns themselves, but opportunity cost you have less money to reinvest and grow over time.However, it occasionally pays to pay more. CEFs, for instance, deliver sky-high yields several times more than the average ETF yield - a boon for income investors who simply want to sit and collect checks over a long period of time rather than sell off assets to register returns. At the same time, you dont need to tolerate absurdly high fees, especially from funds that dont perform.With that in mind, here are seven cheap CEFs to buy. Each closed-end fund boasts annual expenses below the CEF average. SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Closed-End Funds CEFs for 2019 