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Reply to @Ted: "ETF's with greater flexability and lower cost will replace mutual funds in total assets within the next five years."
Are ETFs available for 401(K) and 403(b) accounts? We have asked our company retirement administrators and the answer is NO for the foreseeable future. We already have a number of Institutional Plus shares of Vanguard index funds with ER at 0.02%.
Mediocre active managers should be worried. Perhaps this is why American Funds currently lists the total assets of its Capital World Growth & Income Fund (CWGIX) as 68.2 billion (referenced as “Fiscal Year 2011”), while Lipper gives the total assets for CWGIX as of 12/31/2011 as 44.5 billion.
Reply to @Anonymous: Are you suggesting that this fund lost 35% of its assets in one month (its fiscal year ends Nov 30th)? Sorry, doesn't pass the laugh test.
Understand the difference between the fund (which does not have a ticker) and a share class (which does). American Funds makes crystal clear what its AUM figure represents: "Assets shown are for combined share classes." (From AF fund page(s).)
Add them all up, and compare them with the AUM for the fund.
For the record, CWGIX lost 0.59% in value in Dec 2011 (vs. a loss of 0.95% for EAFE, per M*). The other share classes lost similar amounts (differences due to different expenses, e.g. CWGBX lost 0.65%). That would account for about $400M drop from the $68.2B on Nov 30th to Dec 31st. Any additional gain or loss would have been due to investors adding to, or withdrawing from, one or more of the share classes of the fund during December.
Comments
Ted
http://www.indexuniverse.com/hot-topics/10771-2011-etf-inflows-twice-that-of-mutual-funds.html?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=
Are ETFs available for 401(K) and 403(b) accounts? We have asked our company retirement administrators and the answer is NO for the foreseeable future. We already have a number of Institutional Plus shares of Vanguard index funds with ER at 0.02%.
Are you suggesting that this fund lost 35% of its assets in one month (its fiscal year ends Nov 30th)? Sorry, doesn't pass the laugh test.
Understand the difference between the fund (which does not have a ticker) and a share class (which does). American Funds makes crystal clear what its AUM figure represents: "Assets shown are for combined share classes." (From AF fund page(s).)
Lipper reports:
CWGIX: $44.528B
CWGBX: $ 1.756B
CWGCX: $ 4.537B
CWGFX: $ 3.187B
WGIFX: $ 1.380B
CWIAX: $2.010B
CWIBX: $ 0.129B
CWICX: $ 0.520B
CWIEX: $ 0.088B
CWIFX: $ 0.066B
RWIAX: $ 0.072B
RWIBX: $1.102B
RWICX: $2.128B
RWIEX: $1.910B
RWIFX: $1.253B
RWIGX: Lipper fails to report
Add them all up, and compare them with the AUM for the fund.
For the record, CWGIX lost 0.59% in value in Dec 2011 (vs. a loss of 0.95% for EAFE, per M*). The other share classes lost similar amounts (differences due to different expenses, e.g. CWGBX lost 0.65%). That would account for about $400M drop from the $68.2B on Nov 30th to Dec 31st. Any additional gain or loss would have been due to investors adding to, or withdrawing from, one or more of the share classes of the fund during December.