Word: mutually
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...investors continued to pour their money into M.I.T., the trust moved into first place among the nation's mutual funds in 1936, with assets of $130 million (v. $15.1 million in 1930). Despite its bullish position, M.I.T. sailed through the sharp market break of 1937 with hardly a change in its portfolio; it simply put new cash into Treasury notes as a defensive measure. In that year, Dwight Robinson was rewarded for his work by being moved up to trustee. In 1954, when Merrill Griswold moved up to honorary chairman of the advisory board, Robinson slipped into his chair...
Giant Challengers. The mutual fund industry has waxed so prosperous that several giants have grown up to challenge M.I.T.'s supremacy. Many of them have gathered several mutual funds under their wing. The other top fund managers: ¶ Investors Diversified Services, Inc., of Minneapolis, handles five different mutual funds. The biggest: Investors Mutual, Inc., a balanced fund with assets of $1.4 billion. Scholarly I.D.S. President Joseph Fitzsimmons likes to quote Don Quixote to explain his investment philosophy (" 'Tis the part of a wise man not to venture all his eggs in one basket"), but he keeps...
Nevertheless, some critics insist that buying a mutual fund is just buying a piece of the Dow-Jones industrial average, point out that the top five common stock funds just kept pace with the averages in the seven-year bull market. But Broker Arthur Weisenberger, the Boswell of the industry, whose brokerage house puts out the definitive yearbook of the funds, argues that an investor could pick a slow mover even in the stocks in the blue-chip Dow-Jones averages. Only 14 of the 30 stocks have done as well as the 229% gain in the averages...
...biggest attraction of the mutual fund to dealers and salesmen alike is the hefty "load" charge, or commission, usually 71% to 81% (compared with the 1% commission for round-lot purchases on the New York Stock Exchange). Many a customer howls when told of it. But the funds have a quick rejoinder: they argue that the charge includes the cost of selling out as well as buying, is the price of broad diversification and professional management. If an investor with $4,200 (the average size of a mutual fund holding) tried to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks...
Buying a Hat. Attracted by such fancy pickings, an army of more than 20,000 full-time and part-time mutual fund salesmen, ranging from schoolteachers to bartenders, are selling fund shares. Many of them know no more than their customers about the market, depend on a fast spiel and reams of charts to do their selling. Yet a good part-time salesman can make $10,000 or $15,000 a year in commissions, full-time salesmen up to $25,000. Says Miss Irma Bender, a top fund salesman for Cleveland's Joseph, Mellen & Miller: "I tell prospects that...