| It's 20 Minutes to Midnight for Funds |
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God Bless the mutual fund, the financial industry’s Grand Dame. For the past 20 years, she’s enjoyed an amazing run as America’s investment of choice. During that time, we’ve seen the number of fund offerings triple, the number of investor accounts quintuple and most impressive of all, we’ve seen assets managed climb as high as a whopping $11 trillion. But her age is showing. The mutual fund we know just turned 85. And while you might occasionally hear the tale of the octogenarian who drives his John Deere mower across the country or perhaps still enjoys a shot of hooch before nodding off after dinner, 85 is damn old for anyone or anything—an age when all your parts don’t work like they used to (if you know what I mean). For the mutual fund those worn down parts include a pricing model that’s fast giving way to better, cheaper alternatives, uncompetitive taxation that continues to drive business elsewhere and a wobbly value proposition—active management—spurring a quest for more reliable performance outcomes. There is much written about mutual funds distribution. For the moment, let’s defer the dialogue over hybrid wholesalers, coverage models and value-added programs to focus on the larger problem facing mutual funds—staying relevant. The funds business has entered a period of age borne and market exacerbated distress. We hope this white paper serves as a call to action for management and their marketers to take notice and do something—before it’s too late. *** Want SwanDog to train your marketers and business people on the art of Intelligent Interrogation? Contact us …or call SwanDog at 630-995-3858. |
