The Rise of Mutual Funds: An Insider's View

by Matthew P Fink

Overview

In 1940 few Americans had heard of mutual funds. Today U.S. mutual funds are the largest financial industry in the world, with over 88 million shareholders and over $11 trillion in assets. The Rise of Mutual Funds describes the developments that have produced mutual funds' long history of success. Among these developments are: * formation of the first mutual funds in the roaring 20s * how the 1929 stock market crash, a disaster for most financial institutions, spurred the growth of mutual funds * establishment in 1934, over FDR's objection, of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that regulates mutual funds * enactment of the Revenue Act of 1936, the tax law that saved mutual funds from extinction * passage of the Investment Company Act of 1940, the "constitution" of the mutual fund industry * the creation in 1972 of money market funds, which totally changed the mutual fund industry and the entire U.S. financial system *enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which created Individual Retirement Accounts * the accidental development of 401(k) plans, which have revolutionized the way Americans save for retirement * the 2003 trading abuses, the greatest scandal ever in the history of the mutual fund industry Many events have never been discussed in detail; others have been discussed in works on other subjects. This is the first book that pulls together the many strands of mutual funds' unique history, written by an expert who draws on forty years of personal experience in the fund industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199714438
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/27/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Matthew P. Fink was employed by the Investment Company Institute, the national association of the mutual fund industry, from 1971 to 2004, and served as its President from 1991 to 2004. He is the author of articles on mutual fund history and regularly lectures on that history. He is an honors graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School and attended the London School of Economics.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Beginning the Foundation2. Completing the Foundation: The Investment Company Act3. Early Development4. Responding to the Bear Market: Money Market Funds5. Other Responses to the Bear Market6. The Revolution in Retirement Plans7. Reentry of Securities Firms and Banks8. Responding to Fund Growth: Calls for New Types of Regulation9. Modernizing SEC Regulation10. Updating Other Regulation11. The Trading Scandals12. Work of a Trade Association13. Looking Back, and Ahead

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent account...elegant prose that is impressively free of jargon. ... very timely indeed."—TLS, October 2008

"The book is an exception to the standing rule that participants are typically unable to write objective histories of their own bailiwicks. ...simultaneously a narrative history of the mutual funds, a partial autobiography, and a critique of the regulatory process. The result of this eclectic approach is surprisingly satisfactory, as Fink manages to present information that will be useful to academic researchers, lawmakers, and government regulators."—Business History Review

"Matt Fink writes about mutual funds with the diligence of a scholar, the passion of an enthusiast and the authenticity of one who helped grow the industry from billions to trillions in our lifetime. His new book—The Rise of Mutual Funds: An Insiders View—is must-reading for trustees, fund executives, legislators, regulators, students and journalists writing about financial services. I recommend it with enthusiasm."—William L. Armstrong, U.S. Senator (retired), Chairman, Denver-based Oppenheimer Funds

"Matt Fink was an active participant in the rise of the U.S. mutual fund industry from cottage industry to global force. His historical perspectives and real-time commentary make this book a must read for people interested in the past, present, and future of this vital industry."—Jack Brennan, Chairman, Vanguard

"No-one is better-positioned than Matthew Fink to write about the extraordinary rise of mutual funds as key financial institutions in America. The mutual fund industry has brought to the individual investor a high level of professional investment management that extends over a very broad range of investment styles, sectors and world markets. The rise of the 401(k) Plan has meant that large portions of what had been classic institutional investor assets are now mutual funds subject to the control of individual investors. It is an amazing story told by the man at the center of it all."—Stephen J. Friedman, President of Pace University and former Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission

"Matthew Fink has written an extraordinarily well-informed 'insider's view' of the recent history of the mutual fund industry. Building on his expertise as past President of the Investment Company Institute and his participation in virtually every relevant Congressional or SEC debate, Fink provides a comprehensive and learned account of why mutual funds have grown to become this country's most distinctive and most widely held investment vehicle."—Joel Seligman, President, University of Rochester

"As a lobbyist and eventual head of the Investment Company Institute, Matthew P. Fink watched and helped foment the mutual fund industry's most rapid growth in the 1980s and 90s. His new book, The Rise of Mutual Funds (Oxford University Press), traces its origins in the stock market-crazed 1920s, and the battle to regulate investments in the New Deal. It sums highlights like the 1936 tax on dividends that made fund ownership more attractive; and the funds' later promotion as 'insurance against Socialism or Communism.'"—The Philadelphia Inquirer Online

"A terrific new book."—Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch.com

"Mathew P. Fink tackles a subject that has not been adequately addressed by financial historians.... Fink must be commended for his focused, wide-ranging bibliography."—Business History Review

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