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Tell 'Em What You Want
By Jim Wiandt
February 2, 2001

 

Until we, the buyers organize and wield our clout, the sellers will dictate products advantageous to them.
Bernie B. on IndexFunds.com Main Discussion Board


Investors unite! Recent threads on the message boards of this website have made it abundantly clear that there is a certain discontent brewing among index investors. Sometimes it seems like there is just aren't products to meet our demand. Will someone please take our money?

Are we thankful to have a giant not-for-profit staffed by mathematical geniuses offering broadly-diversified very low cost mutual funds (Vanguard)? You bet. Are the wealthier among us pleased to be able to diversify into obscure global size and style sectors with funds staffed by other mathematical geniuses (DFA)? Certainly.

But could someone please meet the rest of us in the middle?

I have been in touch with some of the biggest index/passive fund firms in world for several years trying to get them interested in developing product.
Larry Swedroe on IndexFunds.com Main Discussion Board

Have you ever been frustrated by the lack of reasonably-priced, passive funds covering a certain part of equities markets? Looking for that special ultra-small emerging markets value fund to snuggle up with? Now is your chance to air it out.

In reality, there are just a handful of managers with the resources and infrastructure to pull off implementation of some of the funds IndexFunds.com readers have expressed interest in. Our goal is to contact them all with your suggestions. In turn, we hope to increase the public interactivity between the fund manager and you, the investor.

Enough from me, now it's your turn. Following is an interactive survey that should give you all the chance you need to speak your mind. We'll take it from there. We will publish the survey results on this site and solicit responses from fund managers, in turn publishing their comments and hopefully fostering a productive dialogue between those running the index funds and those employing them.

After you take the survey, I would encourage you to send it to all of your friends and acquaintances with like interests. Of course, the more people who respond to the survey, the more clout it will have. There will be a feature attached to the survey that allows you to send it to friends. I would also encourage you to post it to the message boards you think would be appropriate, sponsor a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, etc…

Here's the survey:

Note: All fields are optional.
Leave any fields you do not want to fill in blank.
IMPORTANT: Please do not enter commas in any of the text boxes.

About You
Name:
Email:
Street:
City:
State/Province:
ZIP or Postal Code:
Country:
Which primary mutual fund companies do you use (list up to five):
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
How much do you have invested in taxable accounts?
How much do you have invested in tax-sheltered accounts?
How much did you invest in stocks and bonds last year?
In which of the following sectors would you like to see more index funds offered? Total you would invest in the next year if a good new fund was offered covering:
International Total Market Value:
International Large Cap:
International Mid Cap:
International Small Cap:
International Large Value:
International Mid Value:
International Small Value:
International Large Growth:
International Mid Growth:
International Small Growth:
International Value Tax Managed:
Emerging Markets:
Emerging Markets Growth:
Emerging Markets Value:
Emerging Markets Small:
Emerging Markets Small Growth:
Emerging Markets Small Value:
European Large:
European Small:
European Value:
Asia Small:
Asia Value:
Japan Small:
Japan Small Growth:
Japan Small Value:
International Technology:
International Utility:
International Industrial:
International Financial:
International Real Estate:
Other Industry Sector (please specify):
Other Country (please specify):
Other size or style (please specify):
Other Tax Managed (please specify):
Other (please specify)
How would you rate the following aspects of your general experience with fund companies (1-10, 10 being the best):
Product Lines:
Value:
Overall Service:
Tax Efficiency:
Management Skill:
Importance to me of Advisory Services:
My Favorite Mutual Fund Companies are (list up to three):
1)
2)
3)
Additional Comments:
I am interested in receiving information from fund managers
I am interested in receiving promotional mailings