Hedge Funds, private equity and other “alternative” investments may be an emerging playground for the rich, but mutual funds still have their place in the hearts of the moneyed set. Of course, some funds get more love than others. According to the Luxury Institute, a New York-based firm that studies the high-net-worth segment, the wealthy like Dodge & Cox and Blackrock best. Below are rankings of the top five mutual fund families, based on responses to a national survey of 1,500 Americans with an average income of $329,000, and average net worth of $3.4 million. Survey respondents ranked 23 funds on several factors, including whether the fund family makes the investor “feel special,” whether it is worth a significant price premium and whether they would recommend it to people they care about.
“We know a lot of these funds are recommended by intermediaries, but in the end the consumer does interact with the brand,” says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. “In the financial services space, you've got to be an expert, and you've got to have great service and you have to be trustworthy,” he says.
Dodge & Cox was found to be particularly popular with people earning over $300,000 and with penta-millionaires (those with net worths of $5 million or more). The Institute calculated the actual rankings using a proprietary composite scoring method.
Top 5 Darlings of the Rich:
- Dodge & Cox
- Blackrock
- Columbia
- Alliance Bernstein
- American Century
