Empire of the fund : the way we save now

" Empire of the Fund is an exposé and examination of the way we save now. With the rise of the 401(k) and demise of the pension, the United States has embarked upon the richest and riskiest experiment in our financial history. Over the next twenty years, nearly eighty million baby boomers will...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Birdthistle, William A. (Author)
Language:English
Subjects:
Summary:" Empire of the Fund is an exposé and examination of the way we save now. With the rise of the 401(k) and demise of the pension, the United States has embarked upon the richest and riskiest experiment in our financial history. Over the next twenty years, nearly eighty million baby boomers will retire at a pace of ten thousand per day. The hypothesis of our experiment is that millions of ordinary, untrained, busy citizens can successfully manage trillions of dollars in a financial system dominated by wealthy, skilled, and powerful financial institutions, many of which have a record of treating individual investors shabbily. The key tools in our 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts are mutual funds, which have ballooned to hold more than $16 trillion. But these funds pose dangers to our savings in three ways: through structural vulnerabilities that give money managers the incentive to focus on marketing over investing; through the very human challenges of managing our savings decades into the future; and through the peril of financial professionals behaving badly, to our economic harm. Though Americans often hear of the importance of low fees in fund investing, few are aware of the astonishing panoply of ways that some financial advisers have illegally diverted money out of mutual funds: from abetting hedge funds to trade after the legal deadline, to inflating the assets on which they are paid a percentage, to paying kickbacks for brokers to sell their funds. This book will forewarn and forearm Americans by illustrating the structural flaws, perverse incentives, and litany of scandals that have bedeviled mutual funds. And by setting forth a pair of policy solutions to improve Americans' financial literacy and bargaining power, it will also attempt to safeguard our individual financial destinies and our nation's fiscal strength. "--
Physical Description:ix, 250 pages ; 25 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-244) and index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]
ISBN:9780199398560 (hardback)
0199398569 (hardback)
LEADER 03979cam a2200421 i 4500
001 mig00001591348
005 20191026190656.0
008 160324s2016 nyu b 001 0 eng
010 |a  2016007563 
020 |a 9780199398560 (hardback) 
020 |a 0199398569 (hardback) 
024 8 |a 40026313028 
035 |a (OCoLC)ocn938990075 
035 |a 849466 
035 0 0 |a 849466 
040 |a DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d YDX  |d YDXCP  |d BDX  |d BTCTA  |d OCLCF  |d IUL  |d COO  |d PUL  |d YUS  |d VP@ 
042 |a pcc 
043 |a n-us--- 
049 |a VZSA 
050 0 0 |a HG4930  |b .B47 2016 
082 0 0 |a 332.63/27  |2 23 
100 1 |a Birdthistle, William A.,  |e author. 
245 1 0 |a Empire of the fund :  |b the way we save now /  |c William A. Birdthistle. 
264 1 |a New York, NY :  |b Oxford University Press,  |c [2016] 
300 |a ix, 250 pages ;  |c 25 cm 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a unmediated  |b n  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a volume  |b nc  |2 rdacarrier 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-244) and index. 
520 |a " Empire of the Fund is an exposé and examination of the way we save now. With the rise of the 401(k) and demise of the pension, the United States has embarked upon the richest and riskiest experiment in our financial history. Over the next twenty years, nearly eighty million baby boomers will retire at a pace of ten thousand per day. The hypothesis of our experiment is that millions of ordinary, untrained, busy citizens can successfully manage trillions of dollars in a financial system dominated by wealthy, skilled, and powerful financial institutions, many of which have a record of treating individual investors shabbily. The key tools in our 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts are mutual funds, which have ballooned to hold more than $16 trillion. But these funds pose dangers to our savings in three ways: through structural vulnerabilities that give money managers the incentive to focus on marketing over investing; through the very human challenges of managing our savings decades into the future; and through the peril of financial professionals behaving badly, to our economic harm. Though Americans often hear of the importance of low fees in fund investing, few are aware of the astonishing panoply of ways that some financial advisers have illegally diverted money out of mutual funds: from abetting hedge funds to trade after the legal deadline, to inflating the assets on which they are paid a percentage, to paying kickbacks for brokers to sell their funds. This book will forewarn and forearm Americans by illustrating the structural flaws, perverse incentives, and litany of scandals that have bedeviled mutual funds. And by setting forth a pair of policy solutions to improve Americans' financial literacy and bargaining power, it will also attempt to safeguard our individual financial destinies and our nation's fiscal strength. "--  |c Provided by publisher. 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and index. 
505 0 0 |g Part I.  |t Anatomy of a Fund --  |t Purpose --  |t Structure --  |t Economics --  |g Part II.  |t Diseases and Disorders --  |t Fees--  |t Soft Dollars --  |t Fair Valuation --  |t Late Trading --  |t Market Timing --  |t Selective Disclosure --  |g Part III.  |t Alternative Remedies --  |t 401(k) and Individual Retirement Accounts --  |t Target Date Funds --  |t Exchange-Traded Funds --  |t Money Market Funds --  |g Part IV.  |t Cures--  |t A Healthier Use of Mutual Funds. 
650 0 |a Mutual funds  |z United States  |x History. 
650 0 |a Saving and investment  |z United States  |x History. 
776 0 8 |i Online version:  |a Birdthistle, William A., author.  |t Empire of the fund  |d New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016  |z 9780199398577  |w (DLC) 2016014492 
994 |a C0  |b VZS 
999 f f |i 6355a5fe-40dd-4ed2-81fd-fbbb1577c10c  |s 36273ffe-e3c5-4f1f-8f5a-96ce49cf8ced  |t 0 
952 f f |a Skidmore College  |b Main  |c  Lucy Scribner Library  |d 2nd floor  |t 0  |e HG4930 .B47 2016  |h Library of Congress classification  |i physical  |m 33048007362916  |n 1