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SEC to industry: "try using understandable language"

David_Snowball
edited July 2014 in Fund Discussions
Here's a concern with which I'm intensely sympathetic. I've tried delegating our monthly "funds in registration" piece to bright folks who are not obsessive about investing. There's a simple template and easy direction on where, in an SEC filing, to find the info. We've never been able to make the system work. Why? Because even the summary prospectuses describe the fund's investment plans in often impenetrable language and even the question "am I eligible to invest" is mired in discussions of "certain financial intermediaries."

The SEC is returning, once again, to the Herculean task of encouraging clarity according to an article in Financial Planning. They're trying to reason with the industry about it, though I'm not hopeful of the outcome of any discussion between marketers, bureaucrats and lawyers.

A funny footnote that might baffle younger readers: the SEC admits that some of their fund information is still written for DOS.

David

Comments

  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    What's a "DOS"?

    OJ
  • mrdarceymrdarcey
    edited July 2014
    C:\WINDOWS\cd\SMH
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    Oh, that DOS. I wasn't paying much attention at the time because I was busy being productive on a Mac.
  • [Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    :-)
  • LLJB
    It seems this might be an outstanding opportunity to help some of those people who are overly obsessive about investing. Since David has made the clear and valuable point that burdening ourselves with more information often leads to lower quality of life and lower returns on our investments, reading these summary prospectuses might go a long way towards breaking the obsession or at least bringing on a good nap.
  • jlev
    @Maurice I'm not sure I would trust anything Miley tried to teach anyone about risk.
  • heezsafe
    @David_Snowball
    And a side footnote that might baffle grammarians of all ages, for all ages: your first sentence. (sigh) Perhaps, it may be time for the dreaded red pencil to make a comeback.:)
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    That got by me. "Sympathetic to"??? DAVID!!
  • jlev
    edited July 2014
    If it's partially formatted for
    DOS, could a PERL script get you the right info?
  • David_Snowball
    Jeez, guys, I don't see any problem. Whacha fussin' about?

    David (the guy who certainly wouldn't go back and edit his own posts for dignity's sake)
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