My Washington Post column was published in Sunday’s print edition, but the digital version went into purgatory.
It is online now:
“Most investors think long and hard about why they buy this fund or that — but they never think about when or why to sell. They should.
This question involves huge sums of money. Ninety million individuals in the United States have $12 trillion invested in mutual funds. In terms of saving for retirement, mutual funds holdings account for 54 percent of 401(k)s and 47 percent of IRAs (in dollar terms). The 8,500 “Registered Investment Companies,” as these mutual funds are formally called, hold 27 percent of all outstanding stock of public companies in the United States.”
It was written to get fund owners to turn off their auto-pilots, and manage their assets and managers more proactively.
I left the important question of active vs. passive investing — ETFs vs. mutual funds — for another column . . .
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Source:
When should you fire your mutual fund manager?
Barry Ritholtz
Washington Post, May 8, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/when-should-you-fire-your-mutual-fund-manager/2011/05/03/AFvl3kLG_story.html
