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ARCHIVE
Even in Bear Markets, Equity Fund Investors Stay the Course
By Shelly Antoniewicz
December 21, 2018
With the S&P 500 on a downward trajectory since early October, we’ve seen many headlines in the financial press of an impending bear market in US stocks and the potential for retrenchment by investors. But just as we showed that bond investors aren’t stampeding the exits in another recent ICI Viewpoints, “Debunking Assumptions About Bond Mutual Funds’ Flows and Bond Sales,” equity fund investors’ reactions to substantial declines in stock prices are less dramatic than the popular belief would suggest.
Do Equity Fund Investors Redeem Heavily During Large Stock Market Declines? No.
Based on ICI’s weekly combined mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows report published December 19, domestic equity funds experienced estimated net redemptions of $12 billion for the week ended December 12 and cumulative net redemptions of $25 billion since October 1.
As mentioned in our previous posting, a focus on dollar flows alone often leads to misimpressions that fund investors are fleeing or running from the markets. The appropriate lens to gauge investors’ reaction is to look at the outflows’ share of the total assets in the funds. When viewed through this lens, the outflow since October 1 is small. The $25 billion in net redemptions represents only 0.2 percent of the assets held by domestic equity mutual funds and ETFs as of September 30.
This kind of mild reaction is not a new phenomenon. Looking at the past four bear markets in the S&P 500 index, we see that most investors stayed the course and remained invested in US stocks even when prices were in a protracted decline (see table). For example:
- During the global financial crisis and subsequent recession, the S&P 500 index contracted nearly 57 percent from its peak in October 2007 to its trough in March 2009. During this period, domestic equity mutual fund and ETF investors redeemed only 1.4 percent of the assets they held in these funds as of September 2007.
- Contrary to conventional wisdom regarding the flightiness of fund investors, they added to their holdings of domestic equity mutual funds during the bursting of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s.
- The stock market crash of 1987, with a 33.5 percent decline in the S&P 500, didn’t spook domestic equity mutual fund investors.
- During the double-dip recession in the early 1980s, domestic equity mutual fund investors redeemed only 1.4 percent of assets.
For further information on fund investors reactions to other market events in the United States and around the world, see “Regulated Fund Shareholders’ Reactions to Market Turmoil, 1944–October 2018.”
For more than seven decades, retail fund investors overwhelmingly have pursued long-term financial goals, such as saving for retirement and their kids’ college educations. They also have been told time and again: “don’t try to time the market”; “make a plan and stick to it”; “dollar-cost averaging works to your advantage.” Maybe it’s time to stop assuming they are panicky and flighty when the data clearly show they haven’t been—and still aren’t.
Even in Bear Markets, Investor Redemptions from Domestic Equity Funds Are Mild
Time period |
Percentage change |
Cumulative flow |
Percentage of total |
October 2018 to December 2018 |
-15.7% |
-$25.2 |
-0.2% |
October 2007 to March 2009 |
-56.8% |
-$74.2 |
-1.4% |
March 2000 to October 2002 |
-49.1% |
+$199.4 |
+5.6% |
August 1987 to December 1987 |
-33.5% |
-$5.8 |
-2.8% |
November 1980 to August 1982 |
-27.1% |
-$0.6 |
-1.4% |
1 Calculated using day with highest close and day with lowest close in the period.
2 Cumulative monthly flow over the period as a percentage of domestic equity fund assets at the month-end prior to the start of the period. Data for mutual funds and ETFs are included in the October 2018 to December 2018 period and the October 2007 to March 2009 period. Data prior to October 2007 include only mutual funds.
Source: Investment Company Institute
Shelly Antoniewicz is ICI’s senior director of industry and financial analysis.
Permalink: https://www.ici.org/viewpoints/view_18_equity_flows
TOPICS: Equity InvestingExchange-Traded FundsMutual Fund
Debunking Assumptions About Bond Mutual Funds’ Flows and Bond Sales
By Shelly Antoniewicz
December 20, 2018
Recent outflows from bond mutual funds have drawn press attention and revived concerns among regulators about the impact of bond fund investors’ actions on the broader bond market. Unfortunately, this attention is rooted in misconceptions—as we’ll show using ICI’s comprehensive data covering 98 percent of mutual fund industry assets.
TOPICS: Bond FundBondsFixed IncomeMutual Fund
Understanding Interest Rate Risk in Bond Funds
By Shelly Antoniewicz and James Duvall
December 17, 2018
Long-term interest rates reached their lowest recorded levels in July 2016 and were on a steady upward trend until early December. Rates dipped recently, but that could be short-lived if global trade tensions ease and the outlook for economic growth remains robust. Investors should be aware of the effects rising interest rates could have on their bond fund investments....
TOPICS: Bond FundBondsExchange-Traded FundsFixed IncomeIndex FundMutual Fund
Mutual Funds: Rated E for Everyone
By Sarah Holden
December 12, 2018
Investing is subject to many misconceptions, including the notion that only wealthy households own mutual funds. As US households’ ownership of mutual funds has grown over the past four decades, the need to correct myths about who owns mutual funds has also grown....
TOPICS: Investor ResearchMutual FundRetirement PolicySavingsShareholder
ICI’s 2018 Annual Report: Letter from the President
By Paul Schott Stevens
December 3, 2018
A version of this letter by ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens was released in the Institute’s 2018 Annual Report.
Fund industry watchers will remember this year as one of important policy developments, including some that have been the subject of years of debate. The Investment Company Institute has been deeply engaged in this wide range of issues, working on both legislative and regulatory fronts to promote advantageous outcomes for regulated funds and their shareholders....
TOPICS: Exchange-Traded FundsFinancial MarketsFund RegulationGlobalIDCOperations and TechnologyRetirement Policy
Common Ownership: "Puffery" in the Legal Analysis
By Mike McNamee
December 3, 2018
Proponents of the common ownership hypothesis presume that the economic debate over the competitive effects of institutional investing is settled. But a new paper from Douglas H. Ginsburg, judge on the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Keith Klovers, a judicial clerk on that court, finds that those proponents "substantially overstate the validity and strength of the existing empirical work" on common ownership....
TOPICS: Financial MarketsFund RegulationPolicy ResearchShareholder
Growing Better with Age: The 401(k) Turns Forty
By Miriam Bridges and Christina Kilroy
November 30, 2018
This month marks the fortieth birthday of the most prevalent retirement plan available to workers today: the 401(k). It’s a milestone, to be sure, but there are no mid-life doldrums here—401(k) plans continue to grow, and currently hold $5.3 trillion in assets on behalf of more than 55 million active participants and millions of former employees and retirees.
TOPICS: 401(k)Investor ResearchPolicy ResearchRetirement PolicyRetirement ResearchSavingsShareholderTarget Date Funds
Common Ownership: Ignoring the Age-Old Conflict Between Owners and Managers
By Mike McNamee
November 30, 2018
In his first public remarks as a member of the Federal Trade Commission, Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips tackled what he called “the common ownership story”—and concluded that “this ‘economic blockbuster’ seems a little light on plot.” And like many other experts, Commissioner Phillips sees problems with both the empirical evidence and the theoretical basis for the claim of anticompetitive harm....
TOPICS: Financial MarketsFund RegulationPolicy ResearchShareholder
Common Ownership: Faulty Assumptions on Investors’ ‘Economic Interests’
By Mike McNamee
November 29, 2018
In a new paper, scholars Thomas A. Lambert and Michael E. Sykuta find that proponents of the common ownership hypothesis don’t understand—or even attempt to consider—the actual economic interests and incentives of asset managers and their fund clients....
TOPICS: Financial MarketsFund RegulationPolicy ResearchShareholder
Funds and Proxy Voting: Funds Vote Thoughtfully and Independently
By Morris Mitler, Sean Collins, and Dorothy Donohue
November 7, 2018
During the 2017 proxy voting season, registered investment companies—including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and closed-end funds—cast more than 7.6 million votes for proxy proposals submitted by either management or shareholders of corporations held in the funds’ portfolios. Some of those proposals were straightforward; others were more controversial. But in every case, a fund adviser had a duty to evaluate the proposal and act in the best interest of the fund and its shareholders.
TOPICS: Mutual FundProxy VotingShareholder
Funds and Proxy Voting: Who Submits Shareholder Proposals?
By Morris Mitler, Sean Collins, and Dorothy Donohue
November 6, 2018
Any registered fund that holds companies’ stocks in its portfolio has a duty to consider proxy proposals offered by those companies—and to act in the best interests of the fund and its shareholders. These funds also have a regulatory obligation to report those votes.
As the only investors required to disclose their votes publicly, funds draw an outsized share of the attention focused on proxy issues and voting outcomes. And critics frequently focus on whether they agree or disagree with funds’ votes—without regard to funds’ obligation to vote in the interests of fund shareholders....
TOPICS: Mutual FundProxy VotingShareholder
Funds and Proxy Voting: The Mix of Proposals Matters
By Morris Mitler, Sean Collins, and Dorothy Donohue
November 5, 2018
Proxy voting is in the news and on the minds of policymakers, corporate executives, and investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will focus on a number of issues related to proxy advisory firms, shareholder proposals, and technology and innovation to make the proxy process more efficient at a staff roundtable on November 15. Major corporate issuers—organized as the “Main Street Investors Coalition”—are agitating against the voting practices of institutional investors, including registered funds....
Fund Shareholders Have to Receive Reports. They Don’t Have to Pay So Much for Them
By Paul Schott Stevens
November 1, 2018
ICI has filed a comment letter calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to overhaul the framework for fees that funds are required to pay to vendors when intermediaries such as broker-dealers hire those vendors to distribute legally required reports and disclosures to shareholders. The issue may sound dry and technical—but if the SEC follows through on our recommendations, shareholders will save real money.
TOPICS: Mutual FundShareholder
Improving Operational Efficiency for Interval Funds
By Jeffrey Naylor
October 23, 2018
Fund firms that offer interval funds—a type of closed-end fund that periodically offers to repurchase a portion of its shares—face unique operational challenges. To address these, ICI’s Broker-Dealer Advisory Committee recently launched the Working Group on Interval Funds. The working group plans to publish a comprehensive white paper that will consider new approaches to boosting the operational cohesiveness and efficiency of trade processing for these funds. The paper will include pertinent recommendations that should greatly benefit interval fund investors....
TOPICS: Operations and Technology
28 Trillion Smart Decisions
By Christina Kilroy
October 22, 2018
Have you ever done one small, smart thing that ended up making a huge difference in your future? I’m not talking about blind luck—like buying a ticket that turns out to be the winner in the (currently) $1.6 billion Mega Millions. No, I’m talking about small, smart decisions that can materially affect us later in life....
TOPICS: Investment EducationMutual FundRetirement ResearchSavingsShareholderTaxes
SEC Should Reject Complex, Costly “Pass-Through” Proxy Voting
By Paul Schott Stevens
October 2, 2018
Policymakers and regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have renewed their interest in proxy voting issues recently. Among the items under discussion at an upcoming SEC Roundtable is the idea that a fund would only be allowed to vote on portfolio company proxies after the fund asks its own shareholders how the fund should vote. In essence, this would “pass through” to fund shareholders the decision of how corporate proxies would be exercised. Even the briefest consideration demonstrates how misguided and impractical the idea is—and why it should go no further.
TOPICS: Fund GovernanceFund RegulationProxy VotingShareholder
Fund Adviser Proxy Votes Align with Fund Interests
By Paul Schott Stevens
September 24, 2018
A key assertion in “Cracking the Proxy Racket” (The Wall Street Journal's Review & Outlook, September 18) is that asset managers vote “in block” to support recommendations set forth by advisory firms like Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services. Such statements ought to be tested against actual data.
A decade’s worth of research shows that fund advisers vote proxies diligently, in line with their fiduciary duty to the fund and its shareholders...
TOPICS: Fund GovernanceFund RegulationIndex FundMutual FundProxy VotingShareholder
Stock Ownership in the United States: It’s Main Street
By Sarah Holden
September 10, 2018
US household activity in the stock market has undergone a transformation over the past three decades. The old idea that investing in the stock market is just for the wealthy is vastly out of date.
In the late 1980s, less than a third of US households held stocks. Now, a majority do. This growth in stock-owning households has occurred across all income quintiles....
TOPICS: Equity InvestingInvestor ResearchRetirement PolicySavingsShareholder
“Common Ownership” Hypothesis Is Unconvincing
By Sean Collins and Susan M. Olson
August 22, 2018
Economists and legal scholars have issued pointed critiques and empirical rebuttals of the “common ownership” hypothesis—the notion that institutional investors holding small, non-controlling stakes in competing companies in concentrated industries decrease competition and raise consumer prices. Yet the issue continues to draw attention and is one of a long list of topics that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will include in upcoming hearings on competition and consumer protection.
In response, the Investment Company Institute (ICI) has submitted a comment letter to the FTC to provide a factual baseline on key elements of the discussion to help dispel misrepresentations underlying the common ownership hypothesis.
TOPICS: Fund RegulationPolicy ResearchShareholder
IRA Investors Are Concentrated in Lower-Cost Mutual Funds
By James Duvall
August 8, 2018
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) represent the largest share of assets in the US retirement market, with assets totaling $9.2 trillion at year-end 2017. Forty-seven percent of this total is held in mutual funds, with IRA mutual fund investors primarily invested in equity funds. As part of ICI’s ongoing efforts to shed light on important insights into IRA investing, ICI is offering an updated analysis of expense ratios that investors pay on mutual funds in their IRAs....
TOPICS: 401(k)Bond FundEquity InvestingIRAMutual FundRetirement ResearchShareholder
How Mutual Funds Service and Protect Shareholders Affected by Disaster
By Joanne Kane
June 26, 2018
Mutual fund shareholders were among the millions of people affected by the numerous natural disasters that affected the United States during 2017. The recent volcanic event in Hawaii is another reminder that disasters—natural or manmade—can strike anytime, anywhere.
As both the summer tornado season and hurricane season get underway, the destruction in Hawaii serve as a reminder that US residents should be prepared for the unexpected—just as mutual funds are prepared to help and protect shareholders affected by disaster....
TOPICS: Operations and Technology
IBM Expert Demystifies Artificial Intelligence, Touts Its Value for Asset Management
By Jeanne C. Arnold
June 22, 2018
Forget what you’ve heard about artificial intelligence (AI), Tom Eck, chief technology officer for IBM industry platforms, told the crowd at ICI’s 60th annual General Membership Meeting. Despite its depiction sometimes in popular culture as a malevolent force, he said, there is nothing to fear from the technology, which happens to hold great potential for the registered fund industry....
TOPICS: EventsGMMMutual Fund
Young Leaders Reflect on Building a Better Business
By Christina Kilroy
June 21, 2018
Emerging leaders in the asset management industry are at the forefront of changes that will fundamentally affect the business—from technology, to client expectations, to how to attract and retain top talent. During a panel at ICI’s Operations and Technology Conference, held concurrently with the 60th annual General Membership Meeting, three such leaders explored how their firms are rethinking legacy processes and moving into the future....
TOPICS: EventsGMMMutual FundOperations and TechnologyShareholder
Meeting Investors’ Evolving Expectations—and Why Delivering Returns Is No Longer Enough
By Jeanne C. Arnold
June 19, 2018
Serving investors is at the heart of asset management. Yet in today’s technology-driven world, in which personalized services and experiences dominate everything from banking to shopping, asset managers are having to rethink how to best meet the evolving needs of investors and advisers.
During the opening session of ICI’s 60th annual General Membership Meeting, held this year from May 22–24, a group of industry experts took to the stage to discuss the future of the fund industry—and to explain why simply delivering returns is no longer enough....
TOPICS: EventsGMMMutual Fund
How Astronaut Jerry Linenger Found Strength, Perspective During His 132 Days in Space
By Candice Gullett
June 14, 2018
Captain Jerry Linenger has been around the world more than a few times—literally. As a retired US Navy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut posted on Russian space station Mir, he’s seen it all. But you don’t have to go in to space to benefit from Linenger’s insight—he had plenty of wisdom to share with attendees of ICI’s 60th annual General Membership Meeting (GMM), held in Washington, DC, from May 22–24.
TOPICS: EventsGMMMutual Fund
Amy Herman Makes Order out of Chaos with the Art of Perception
By Melanie Cohen
June 11, 2018
Art might not be the first topic that comes to mind when discussing the mutual fund industry, but lawyer and art historian Amy Herman showed that there is a connection to be found after all.
Addressing attendees at ICI’s recent Operations and Technology Conference, held concurrently with ICI’s General Membership Meeting in Washington, DC, from May 22–24, Herman explained that analyzing art requires stepping in closely and asking questions from every angle—a style of observation that also is important for the fund industry…
TOPICS: EventsGMMMutual Fund
Artificial Intelligence Offers Opportunity for Funds and Investors
By Miriam Bridges
June 7, 2018
What’s the future of the financial services workforce and artificial intelligence (AI)? Adam Broun, president and COO of Kensho Technologies, believes that AI will help human beings become better at what they do. “We’re not replacing humans yet in any meaningful way; we’re making people more effective and efficient in what they’re doing,” Broun told the audience at ICI’s annual Operations and Technology Conference, held concurrently with the General Membership Meeting on May 22–24 in Washington, DC.
Kicking off the session, Broun described how Kensho developed its “new economy” indexes and how AI comes into play...
For Good Cybersecurity, Keep Your Eye on the Basics, Says Fidelity’s Chad Renfro
By Todd Bernhardt
June 5, 2018
The computer breaches and hacks that make headlines are typically massive and complicated, and this can lead to the belief that information security solutions must be similarly complex.
But—as Chad Renfro, head of enterprise cybersecurity at Fidelity Investments, told a capacity audience at ICI’s recent General Membership Meeting—good cybersecurity doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Instead, he said, companies that make “strategic, optimized investments in cybersecurity” and that focus on the fundamentals can drastically reduce the amount of risk facing their firm…
TOPICS: CybersecurityEventsGMMOperations and Technology
Asset Management Leaders Talk Shop on Markets and Trends—and the Industry’s Gender Divide
By Rob Elson
May 31, 2018
A panel of four leading women in asset management took the stage at ICI’s 60th annual General Membership Meeting last week to share their insights on market outlooks, industry trends, and gender diversity....
TOPICS: EventsGMMInternationalMutual Fund
Popular 529 Savings Plans Expand to Reach Students of All Ages
By Christina Kilroy
May 29, 2018
Today, on May 29—“5/29”—we mark 529 College Savings Day. Many people interested in saving for a child’s or grandchild’s future college costs are using targeted savings vehicles called 529 savings plans. The plans, which have grown in popularity over the past decade and a half as a way to save for a family member’s college expenses, may now also be used to cover tuition for elementary and secondary education....
TOPICS: Investment EducationSavingsTaxes
SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar: A Commitment to Markets, Shareholders...and Facts
By Rachel McTague
May 24, 2018
SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar responded with candor to questions posed by ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens during a lively discussion at the final day of ICI’s General Membership Meeting. Piwowar’s announced July 7 departure from the agency offered the outspoken commissioner the opportunity to reflect on fund regulation during his five-year tenure....
TOPICS: Exchange-Traded FundsFinancial StabilityFund RegulationGMMMutual Fund
Jon Meacham’s Leadership Prescription: Curiosity, Humility, and Empathy
By Rob Elson
May 23, 2018
A lunchtime crowd of nearly 1,500 at ICI’s 60th annual General Membership Meeting sat rapt as Pulitzer Prize–winning author and presidential historian Jon Meacham dove deep into what he sees as three virtues that have defined America’s best eras, and that are “essential to any given hour in the republic, both at the top—and for all of us.”
Today’s divisive, contentious environment threatens those virtues, Meacham said, but not because of the division and contention themselves, which he said have been part of America and its system of government from the beginning...
TOPICS: GMM
The Carlyle Group’s David M. Rubenstein: Expanding Horizons, Doing What He Loves
By Miriam Bridges
May 23, 2018
“It’s the rate of return. Everything is the rate of return,” said David M. Rubenstein, cofounder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group, summing up what has fueled the growth and success of the modern private equity business.
TOPICS: EventsGMMMutual Fund
Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman Builds Pride from the Inside Out
By Todd Bernhardt
May 22, 2018
A mental model that James Gorman uses in his role as chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley involves viewing the world as a series of concentric circles: the innermost circle represents the firm itself, while the subsequent circles represent the industry, the economy, and the political environment that a firm operates within. To succeed, one must build an understanding and mastery of each circle. Only then can one move back toward the middle.
TOPICS: GMMGlobalMutual Fund
2018 Investment Company Fact Book: Letter from the Chief Economist
By Sean Collins
May 15, 2018
Those of us who wear glasses know that one of the most crucial elements in seeing the world is the right lens. A bad lens warps the light and distorts the signals; the right lens sharpens the image and enhances our understanding.
This is a useful metaphor for the work that ICI Research does in providing informed analysis to guide public policy. Through our voluminous collections and surveys, we gather large amounts of data—signals about the behavior of funds, markets, and investors. But finding the patterns in these signals requires the right lens—accumulated knowledge provided by context, economic insights, and understanding of institutions.
The Investment Company Fact Book is one very visible result of this process and its many elements...
TOPICS: Financial MarketsFund RegulationInvestor ResearchMutual FundPolicy ResearchRetirement PolicyRetirement ResearchSavingsShareholder
A More Accurate Evaluation of Retirement Plan Participation
By Miriam Bridges
May 2, 2018
What’s the actual participation rate of Americans preparing for retirement through a workplace retirement plan? It’s an important question, and one that ICI economists Peter Brady and Steven Bass shed some light on in their new analysis of tax data, “Who Participates in Retirement Plans, 2014.”
The retirement plan participation rate—often used to evaluate the performance of the US voluntary employer plan system—understates the true scope and importance of these plans. In their careful analysis, Brady and Bass give two reasons for this understatement...
Invest in Your Future Through an IRA
By Christina Kilroy
March 13, 2018
Nearly 44 million US households invest and save for their future through individual retirement accounts (IRAs). If your household isn’t one, now is a great opportunity to join them. And if you are already saving in an IRA, there are some advantages that you may not be aware of—and that are worth knowing about as Tax Day approaches...
TOPICS: Investment EducationMutual FundRetirement ResearchSavingsShareholderTaxes
Americans: In Defined Contribution We Trust
By Sarah Holden
March 8, 2018
Millions of Americans personally direct their retirement investments in defined contribution (DC) plans, which account for nearly $8 trillion in savings. Because it is vitally important that regulators, policymakers, and employers understand the beliefs and behaviors of these investors, ICI asked Americans what they thought of DC retirement plan accounts, which include 401(k) and 403(b) accounts.
The results, which we summarized in “American Views on Defined Contribution Plan Saving, 2017,” were clear: whether they had DC accounts or not, Americans appreciate DC plan accounts and are confident that these plans can help people meet their retirement goals...
TOPICS: 401(k)Investor ResearchRetirement PolicyRetirement Research
Fund Investors Will “Run”? Sorry, Charlie Brown
By Sean Collins and Sarah Holden
March 7, 2018
For decades, Charles Schulz kept us in suspense: surely this time, Lucy would let Charlie Brown kick the football. Nope. Every time, at the last second, she pulled the ball away—and Charlie Brown fell flat on his back.
We’ve seen the same gap between wish and fulfillment around market turmoil and mutual funds. For decades, commentators have predicted that investors in stock and bond funds, faced with market turmoil, would redeem en masse, perhaps adding to the market turmoil. Despite plenty of opportunities, that just hasn’t happened.
Stock market turmoil in February provides yet another example of this...
TOPICS: 401(k)Bond FundEquity InvestingFinancial MarketsFinancial StabilityInterest RateInvestor ResearchMutual FundRetirement ResearchTrading
Pointing Fingers at Index Funds Won’t Explain Market Volatility
By Shelly Antoniewicz
February 14, 2018
With all the recent volatility in the US stock market, two questions are frequently being asked:
- Are fund investors fleeing the stock market?
- Are index funds causing market turbulence?
The short answer to both questions is no.
Experience and research show that investor flows to and from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tend to track market returns. ...
TOPICS: Equity InvestingExchange-Traded FundsFederal ReserveFinancial MarketsFinancial StabilityIndex FundInterest RateInvestor ResearchMutual FundTrading
Education, Outreach, Advocacy: A Big 2017 for IDC and Fund Independent Directors
By Amy B. R. Lancellotta
February 8, 2018
The following appeared as the “Letter from the Managing Director” in IDC’s 2017 Annual Review.
If there has been a single constant across the 13-year history of the Independent Directors Council (IDC), it’s the stability of our four-part mission...
TOPICS: Fund GovernanceFund RegulationIDCMutual Fund
Americans Rely on Stocks to Meet Their Financial Goals as Much as Ever
By Sean Collins
January 17, 2018
The following ICI Viewpoints is a letter to the Wall Street Journal by Sean Collins, ICI chief economist, in response to an article published on January 4, 2018:
Are America’s individual investors missing out on one of the biggest bull markets in history? No. The Wall Street Journal’s account (“As Dow Tops 25000, Individual Investors Sit It Out,” January 4) is based on anecdotes and selective use of data.
TOPICS: Exchange-Traded FundsFinancial MarketsFinancial StabilityMutual FundSavings
States Are Abusing Abandoned-Property Funds to Plug Budget Shortfalls
By Tamara K. Salmon
January 11, 2018
Imagine finding out that your investment account has been turned over to your state because it was considered “abandoned.” Imagine, too, that after the account was turned over to the state, the account received a capital gains distribution. As a result, you are liable for paying the taxes on that distribution—and can be assessed monetary penalties for not paying the taxes in a timely fashion.
TOPICS: Fund RegulationGovernment AffairsMutual FundRetirement PolicySavingsShareholderTaxes
Independent Directors’ Stringent Oversight Contributes to Decline in Fund Fees
By Amy B. R. Lancellotta
January 9, 2018
The following ICI Viewpoints is a letter to the New York Times by Amy B. R. Lancellotta, managing director of the Independent Directors Council, in response to an article published on December 30, 2017.
TOPICS: Fund GovernanceFund RegulationMutual FundShareholder
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