Mutual Funds Today...Who's Watching YOUR Money?
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by Dan Calabria
Price: $25.95
Book Website: http://www.mutualfundsbureau.com
256 Pages, Paperback, 8.25 x 11
ISBN-10: 0-578-00786-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-578-00786-1
MUTUAL FUND MAVERICK DAN CALABRIA AUTHORS “MUTUAL FUNDS TODAY: WHO’S WATCHING YOUR MONEY?" A Guide for the Investor and A Wake Up Call for Mutual Fund Directors. The author is a proponent of mutual funds but is both concerned for investors whose knowledge of funds is frequently minimal, and concerned with the practices of fund directors, who are supposed to represent the shareholders’ best interests. After a 42 year career in the fund industry he is no longer affiliated with any fund company, and no longer constrained from expressing his long held “maverick” views.
The book is directed at two different types of reader. For the 94 million mutual fund shareholders who need to understand their investments better, he explains: • What is a mutual fund? How does it work? • Who should invest in mutual funds? • How do you pick a fund or review one you currently own? In clear, concise terms, he explains the different kinds of funds, how to evaluate performance results and offers a glossary of key mutual fund terms. In the second part of the book, the author addresses the conflicts of interest and areas of mismanagement he sees in the way mutual fund directors work. For example, investors pay many expenses that don’t benefit them, like 12b-1 fees for marketing the funds to new investors.
Mr. Calabria is also critical of independent directors, some of whom he feels are overpaid and are more focused on protecting the interests of the advisors, instead of the shareholders. He recommends a required Continuing Education Program designed for sitting directors to learn/understand their responsibilities and obligations to the fund shareholders they are paid to serve. He also feels strongly that directors should not be allowed to set their own compensation without shareholder approval, and should stand for election every year at an annual shareholder meeting – a practice that has all but disappeared in this “enlightened” age.
About The Author
Dan Calabria enjoyed a 42 year career in the mutual fund industry where he worked for and led some of the most successful firms in the industry. He began his fund career at the Dreyfus Funds and moved on to become Executive Vice President of Oppenheimer Management Corp. and a limited partner of Oppenheimer & Co. His career path led him to the position of president and CEO of Templeton Funds Management Corp., the business manager for the U.S. based Templeton Funds until they were acquired by the Franklin Funds.
In 1996 he was invited to serve on the boards of several funds as an independent director. He had been active in the securities industry as an “industry” arbitrator for the NASD and The New York Stock Exchange and served as an independent director for several funds until the end of 2007.
In addition, since 1996 Calabria has been a member of the Investment Committee of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay.
Having been involved in both sides of the fund business he is uniquely familiar with the challenges and obligations faced by fund shareholders and fund directors. He has never been reluctant to express his opinions which are often contrary to those of industry spokesmen. After retiring he decided to "go public" with his concerns about the current direction of the industry and decided to speak out with emphasis on fund shareholder's interests and the obligations of fund directors who represent those shareholders.
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