Mutual Funds: Forever Giants

They've got a lot of competition these days from so-called alternatives like ETFs and other products, many of which have been quickly lapping up new assets in recent years. But mutual funds' all-out dominance of the vast U.S. investment universe remains unchallenged. In fact, they account for a full 93 percent of investment assets in the U.S., according to the Investment Company Institute

They've got a lot of competition these days from so-called alternatives like ETFs and other products, many of which have been quickly lapping up new assets in recent years. But mutual funds' all-out dominance of the vast U.S. investment universe remains unchallenged. In fact, they account for a full 93 percent of investment assets in the U.S., according to the Investment Company Institute. Meanwhile, their share of total U.S. household financial assets is even higher today than it was just 10 years ago, up to 23 percent in 2007 from 15 percent in 1997.

INVESTMENT COMPANY ASSETS, IN BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Year	Mutual funds	Closed-end funds	ETFs	UITs	Total
1996	$3,526	$147	$2	$72	$3,747
1997	4,468	152	7	85	4,712
1998	5,525	156	16	94	5,791
1999	6,846	147	34	92	7,119
2000	6,965	143	66	74	7,248
2001	6,975	141	83	49	7,248
2002	6,390	159	102	36	6,687
2003	7,414	214	151	36	7,815
2004	8,107	254	228	37	8,626
2005	8,905	276	301	41	9,523
2006	10,414	298	423	50	11,185
2007	12,021	315	608	53	12,997
Source: Investment Company Institute

Comments

Plain text