A hard working website can be the next best thing to a wholesaler for small mutual fund companies.
For years, mutual funds have traditionally been sold to registered investment advisers (RIAs), financial advisors and planners through a national sales force comprised of individual wholesalers. These wholesalers were either employed directly by a fund company or worked independently to represent a variety of funds, often in a specific geographical area.
But the prohibitive costs of starting a national wholesaler network, combined with changes in the RIA business has made it more difficult for smaller fund companies to even consider starting and maintaining any type of national sales force. The challenge and uncertainty of these significant start-up costs has largely excluded hundreds of small mutual fund companies, which have exemplary performance records, interesting investment strategies and talented personnel, from gaining a national human sales presence. This presents a disservice to RIAs looking for funds with solid track records and fresh strategies, and ultimately a disservice to end investors.
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