• Why didn’t Marilyn Male want to enjoy herself at Baron Fund’s recent shindig? Why did she think about not buying mutual funds any more?
• How many assets did the mutual-fund industry manage at one time?
• What is meant by “The carnage in stock funds is far bloodier”?
• What led the mutual-fund industry into a mess?
• What makes things even worse for big mutual-fund companies?
• What is the core of the mutual-fund business?
• What awaits those mutual-fund investors who are still hanging on?
• What has been the guideline of the mutual-fund industry?
• Did the performance of the stocks bear any relationship to their titles? Why did fund companies invent those names?
• How do the mutual-fund managers and investors view the performance of the mutual funds respectively?
• What are the mutual-fund investors experiencing?
• Why does the scale of fund companies improve their odds of delivering the performance?
• What is the key to the success of Vanguard Group?
• How can the mutual-fund industry attract clients again and restore its fortunes?

• 他老是在金钱问题上闷闷不乐。 (be down in the dumps)
• 乔治不想去参加那个聚会。(be in no mood to do something)
• 我知道那家公司要破产了。 (be in on the rocks)
• 那个国家免不了要经历一个漫长的动荡时期。(be in for)
• 父母不想让他们的孩子去一般的学校读书。（mediocre）
• 我想在这本书上市之前就搞到一本。（hit the streets）
• 偷税漏税的现象甚多，政府打算加以制止。（clamp down）
• 65岁以上的人去工作得到的津贴要少，而且，更糟糕的是，他们要缴纳的税则更多。（to add insult to injury）
• 现在，他们不得不支付更高的价格。（stick someone with something）
• 刘自业务开张以来敛了不少美元。(rake in)
• 她已听天由命了。(come to terms with)
• 家庭关系使她在政治上获得了初步的立脚点。（toehold）
• 他们坚持认为，生存权利应放在其它一切考虑因素之上。（priority）

Massachusetts Investors Trust was founded on March 21, 1924, and, after one year, had 200 shareholders and $392,000 in assets. The entire industry, which included a few closed-end funds, represented less than $10 million in 1924.

The stock market crash of 1929 slowed the growth of mutual funds. In response to the stock market crash, Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These laws require that a fund be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and provide prospective investors with a prospectus that contains required disclosures about the fund, the securities themselves, and fund manager. The SEC helped draft the Investment Company Act of 1940, which sets forth the guidelines with which all SEC-registered funds today must comply.

One of the largest contributors of mutual fund growth was individual retirement account (IRA) provisions added to the Internal Revenue Code in 1975, allowing individuals (including those already in corporate pension plans) to contribute $2,000 a year.

As of April 2006, there are 8,606 mutual funds that belong to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the national association of investment companies in the United States, with combined assets of $9.207 trillion. .