MutualFundWire.com: ICI Releases Comprehensive Investor Study
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Friday, September 24, 1999

ICI Releases Comprehensive Investor Study


More than 82 million Americans now own mutual funds and the ICI has just released a study profiling the typical fund investor titled the 1998 Profile of Mutual Fund Shareholders.
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    • Of course the more interesting study might show the atypical investor as the industry matures and more and more fund companies try to fill in niches, but the results are interesting nonetheless. The full survey (in PDF format) can be found on the ICI's website.

    This extensive report was compiled by contacting more than 1,400 "financial decision-makers in households with mutual fund investment." The respondents were then surveyed in order to determine basic shareholder information, as well as types of funds owned, what channel the funds were purchased through and how decisions differed between genders, generations and regions.

    The most interesting findings included the continued growth of employer-sponsored retirement plans and purchase through those plans versus purchase through the direct and "sales force" channels. The sales force channel includes full service-brokers, insurance agents, financial planners, and bank representatives.

    Only 28 percent of those surveyed owned mutual funds solely outside of employer-sponsored retirement plans while 38 percent owned funds solely through such plans and another 34 owned funds both inside and outside of plans. Fully half of all respondents designated employer-sponsored retirement plans as their primary channel of purchase, while 34 percent said they primarily purchase through the "sales force" channel and only 16 percent directly from fund companies.

    The typical (median) fund investor, according to the new study:

    • Is middle-aged, married, and college-educated. The median age of the primary financial decisionmaker in the household is 44 years. Nearly 70 percent are married and 50 percent have a four-year college degree.
    • Is employed and of moderate financial means. Eighty-two percent are employed full- or part-time, and in married households, the spouse also tends to work. Median household income is $55,000 and median household assets are $80,000.
    • Has $25,000 invested in mutual funds, nearly one-third of household financial assets.
    • Has at least a basic understanding of mutual funds. Most shareholders invest in mutual funds for retirement, are willing to take moderate risks, and are not focused on short-term market fluctuations.
    • Is a long-term investor in mutual funds. Half of all household owners made their first purchase before 1990 and more than a third between 1990 and 1995.


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