Mutual Funds Today- Who's Watching Your Money? (Paperback)

MUTUAL FUND MAVERICK DAN CALABRIA AUTHORS "MUTUAL FUNDS TODAY: WHO'S WATCHING YOUR MONEY?" A Guide for the Investor and A Wake Up Call for Mutual Fund Directors. The author is a proponent of mutual funds but is both concerned for investors whose knowledge of funds is frequently minimal, and concerned with the practices of fund directors, who are supposed to represent the shareholders' best interests. After a 42 year career in the fund industry he is no longer affiliated with any fund company, and no longer constrained from expressing his long held "maverick" views. The book is directed at two different types of reader. For the 94 million mutual fund shareholders who need to understand their investments better, he explains: [ What is a mutual fund? How does it work? [ Who should invest in mutual funds? [ How do you pick a fund or review one you currently own? In clear, concise terms, he explains the different kinds of funds, how to evaluate performance results and offers a glossary of key mutual fund terms. In the second part of the book, the author addresses the conflicts of interest and areas of mismanagement he sees in the way mutual fund directors work. For example, investors pay many expenses that don't benefit them, like 12b-1 fees for marketing the funds to new investors. Mr. Calabria is also critical of independent directors, some of whom he feels are overpaid and are more focused on protecting the interests of the advisors, instead of the shareholders. He recommends a required Continuing Education Program designed for sitting directors to learn/understand their responsibilities and obligations to the fund shareholders they are paid to serve. He also feels strongly that directors should not be allowed to set their own compensation without shareholder approval, and should stand for election every year at an annual shareholder meeting - a practice that has all but disappeared in this "enlightened" age.