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Second Oldest Stock Fund Is As Nimble As A Teenager
FYI: Putnam Investors Fund's Jerry Sullivan is flying high above Boston's financial district as airline holdings like Spirit and Southwest rise. Putnam Investors Fund's Jerry Sullivan is flying high above Boston's financial district as airline holdings like Spirit and Southwest rise. View Enlarged Image
Rank Name Date of Creation 1 MFS Massachusetts Investors Fund (MITTX) 1924 2 Putnam Investors Fund (PINVX) 1925 3 Pioneer Fund (PIODX) 1928 4 Century Shares Fund (CENSX) 1928 5 Vanguard Wellington Fund (VWELX) 1929 7 CGM Mutual Fund (LOMMX) 1929 6 Seligman Common Stock Fund (SCSFX) 1930 8 Fidelity Fund (FFIDX) 1930 9 Dodge & Cox Balance Fund (DODBX) 1931
Interesting use of the word survivor. I noticed that the Putnam fund was described as the second oldest (presumably US) fund, not the second oldest surviving fund.
Until a decade ago State Street Research Investment Trust was undeniably the second oldest (US) fund. Managed by State Street Management and Research Company, the firm (and its funds) were sold to MetLife in 1982, who in turn sold it to Blackrock in 2002.
Around 2004 or so, Blackrock decided to clean up its fund offerings by merging several of them, and it merged this fund into an existing Blackrock fund. So the fund survives in the sense that it was not liquidated, it did not go bust, but the assets operate under a different name.
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I found a 2008 talk given by John Bogle, that delves briefly into the beginnings of the mutual fund industry in the US. You'll find the relevant sections around pp. 3-7. Though curiously (and I'm still researching this) he refers to the State Street fund as the industry's third-oldest fund.
I like his description of the demise of this fund:
The merger [of State Street into Met Life in 1982] hurt the fund shareholders. “Performance lagged, and the manager’s position in the industry declined from tops to average.” By 2002, Metropolitan Life abandoned the fund business [to Blackrock] ... Among Blackrock’s first moves was to put State Street Investment Corporation out of its misery, merging the industry’s third-oldest fund into another Blackrock fund. I still refer to this event as “a death in the family.”
Bogle's refers to Incorporated Investors as one of the original "Big Three" of the fund industry (along with the State Street and MFS funds). This is actually a reference to the Putnam fund of this thread. Incorporated Investors was its original name, as Putnam documented in a PR release here.
Comments
Until a decade ago State Street Research Investment Trust was undeniably the second oldest (US) fund. Managed by State Street Management and Research Company, the firm (and its funds) were sold to MetLife in 1982, who in turn sold it to Blackrock in 2002.
Around 2004 or so, Blackrock decided to clean up its fund offerings by merging several of them, and it merged this fund into an existing Blackrock fund. So the fund survives in the sense that it was not liquidated, it did not go bust, but the assets operate under a different name.
===
I found a 2008 talk given by John Bogle, that delves briefly into the beginnings of the mutual fund industry in the US. You'll find the relevant sections around pp. 3-7. Though curiously (and I'm still researching this) he refers to the State Street fund as the industry's third-oldest fund.
I like his description of the demise of this fund: Bogle's refers to Incorporated Investors as one of the original "Big Three" of the fund industry (along with the State Street and MFS funds). This is actually a reference to the Putnam fund of this thread. Incorporated Investors was its original name, as Putnam documented in a PR release here.