Investors aren't following the advice commonly given by financial professionals in buying mutual funds, a new survey by the Consumer Federation of America finds.
CFA, Washington, found many investors seem to give relatively little weight to factors such as mutual fund costs and risks that investor educators and regulators consider of top importance.
"In some cases, the survey findings may reveal a failure on the part of investors to take important steps to protect their interests," said Barbara Roper, CFA's director of investor protection. "In these cases, the challenge for investor educators is to figure out how to convey essential information more effectively. In other cases, however, the problem may be that the expert recommendations are simply unrealistic or fail to reflect the different needs of different types of fund purchasers."
Among other key findings of the survey:
