Investing in 'Fiduciary' Mutual Funds: How to Improve the Odds

Abstract

The recent revelations of major scandal in the mutual funds industry have brought intense feelings of betrayal and financial loss to millions of fund shareholders, whose assets were improperly and illegally diminished. Shareholders need and deserve much greater protection and transparency of normative fund data and disclosure that meets their normative shareholder needs. To this end, the study provides guidance for identifying mutual fund advisers and funds that are both superior performers and likely to remain shareholder stewards — “fiduciary funds.” Through application of four particular dimensions of analysis, shareholders are able to identify funds with attributes consistent with fiduciary funds. The fund scandal has proved that the identification of fiduciary funds is essential to thoughtful fund investing.

Keywords: mutual funds, scandal, identifying fiduciary funds, analysis dimensions

JEL Classification: G2, G23, G28