Understanding Shareholders' Use of Information and Advisers (pdf)

Among respondents who had consulted a professionalfinancial adviser, differences existed in the pre-purchaseinformation sources relied upon. For example, the mediannumber of pre-purchase information sources used by respondentswho leave all fund purchase decisions to an adviser wasone. In most instances, that one source was a professionalfinancial adviser. Respondents who use an adviser to placefund purchase orders also typically consulted one source forpre-purchase information, which was usually an article in aninvestment newsletter, newspaper, or magazine. The mediannumber of pre-purchase information sources used by respondentswho have a collaborative relationship with an adviserwas two, and these typically were a professional financialadviser, an investment newsletter, newspaper, or magazinearticle (see Figure 48 in Appendix B).Respondents who indicate they referred to a magazine,newspaper, or investment newsletter article were asked tospecify the publications that printed the articles. Moneymagazine and the Wall Street Journal were mentioned mostoften, with over 40 percent of respondents citing each. Similarproportions of respondents who had consulted and had notconsulted advisers said they referred to Money magazine or alocal newspaper. However, more adviser users than nonusersreported consulting the Wall Street Journal (Figure 19 andFigure 49 in Appendix B).FIGURE 18Mutual Fund Information Sources Used Before Most Recent Purchase 1(percent of respondents using each source)Use of a Professional Financial AdviserAllRespondents Had Consulted Had Not ConsultedProfessional financial advisers 59 80 0*Articles in investment newsletters, 53 47 62*newspapers, magazinesMutual fund prospectuses and annual reports 46 39 56*Friends, family, business associates 30 30 32Mutual fund ranking and information services, 19 17 22such as Morningstar or LipperMutual fund company newsletters 20 15 25*Investment seminars 8 8 9Online services 6 7 6Mutual fund company telephone 8 4 12*representativesMean number of sources used 2 2 2Median number of sources used 2 2 21Multiple responses included.Note: Number of respondents varies.*Respondents who had not consulted an adviser are statistically different from those who had at the 95 percent confidence level.22