Mutual Funds to Become Less Transparent

The mutual fund industry is moving even further away from transparency.

Mutual Funds are pressuring industry data provider Financial Research Corporation to stop providing free access to monthly mutual fund net flows.

Apparently, the fund managers are unhappy with the monthly reports that show the slowing growth and even decline of money flowing into mutual funds.

Mutual fund investors are already in the dark.

Fund investors have no say in the purchase or redemption prices which are set after the market closes and funds are required to report holdings only a few times a year.

In addition, little clear warning exists for new investors buying their way into a capital gains distribution tax trap.   For more on the potential tax trap, see A Taxing Problem in the Journal of Accountancy.

Cutting off information about net redemptions will make it even harder for investors to make good financial decisions and to successfully invest with mutual funds.

Read more in the story by the Wall Street Journal.