Retirement Countdown: Take Action Now to Get the Life You Want

Chapter 11. Mutual Funds

History of Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are pooled investments working toward the goal of providing their owners with diversification and cost efficiencies. The idea for this concept of pooling investments began in Europe in the mid-1800s and took root in the United States in 1893 when a group of Harvard faculty and staff created a pooled fund. It wasn't until March 21, 1924, that three Boston securities executives pooled their money and created the Massachusetts Investors Trust—the first mutual fund born in the United States. That fund, part of the huge MFS family of mutual funds, is still around today, with assets in excess of $6.6 billion and a lifetime annual return in excess of 9 percent.

There are more than 8,300 mutual ...