92-Year-Old Florida Man Fed Up With Paper

Milton Shaffner, 92, is tired to prying bulky mutual fund publications out of his mailbox, and is lobbying the industry and regulators to cut back on paper, the South Florida Sun- Sentinel reports. “I don’t think anyone sits down and reads a 242-page report on his funds,” the retired lawyer said. So he wants fund companies to stop clogging his mailbox and spending shareholders’ money to produce and mail them. The Pompano Beach man also questions why he gets book of information dedicated mainly to funds he does not own, rather than only the pages relevant to his holdings. Of course, Shaffner’s contention that investors don’t read these lengthy disclosures—seven of 10 never looks at them when choosing funds—dovetails with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox’s initiative to move mutual fund shareholder communication online. It also complements the Investment Company Institute’s push to streamline paper disclosures. Shaffer has written on several occasions to the SEC, to his fund company, and to the local paper. He applauds these streamlining efforts. And although he probably won’t go online to get information himself, he’s happy if it will keep paperwork out of his mailbox. “Maybe if they save $5 million in unnecessary expenses, they’ll increase the dividend instead of cutting it,” Shaffner said. The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.