Abstract:
Many investors purchase mutual funds through intermediated channels, engaging and paying brokers or financial advisors for fund selection and advice. This paper attempts to quantify the benefits that investors enjoy in exchange for the higher costs they pay in order to purchase funds through the broker channel. We focus on five measurable potential benefits to consumers of brokered fund distribution: (a) Assistance selecting funds that are harder to find or harder to evaluate; (b) Access to funds with lower costs excluding distribution costs; (c) Access to funds with better performance; (d) Superior asset allocation, and (e) Attenuation of behavioral investor biases. Exploring these dimensions, we do not find that brokers deliver substantial tangible benefits. In short, while brokerage customers are directed toward funds that are harder to find and evaluate, brokerage customers pay substantially higher fees and buy funds that have lower risk-adjusted returns than directly-placed funds. Further, brokered funds exhibit no better skill at aggregate-level asset allocation than funds sold through the direct channel. This analysis implies that any benefits that exist must be found along less tangible dimensions.
