Palmiter, Alan --- "Who are mutual fund investors?" [2018] ELECD 840; in Birdthistle, A. William; Morley, John (eds), "Research Handbook on the Regulation of Mutual Funds" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 112

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Regulation of Mutual Funds

Editor(s): Birdthistle, A. William; Morley, John

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781784715045

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: Who are mutual fund investors?

Author(s): Palmiter, Alan

Number of pages: 29

Abstract/Description:

Chapter 5 attempts to compile an investor profile that describes who mutual fund investors are. It concludes that this portrait of investors, painted by academic and governmental studies, is disturbing. Fund shareholders, who are in charge of making their own investment decisions, are ignorant of important characteristics of the funds in which they invest, inattentive to risks, and insensitive to fund fees. The chapter ends with a “trillion-dollar question”: whether the legal regime charged with protecting fund investors and ensuring the viability of our private retirement system is up to the task.