In yet another death of a dot-com fund complex, the Van Ness Funds yesterday filed with the
With the closing of the funds, Whatifi.com and the Van Ness Funds join the likes other dot-com firms that have recently fizzled. Last year, X.com Funds, StockJungle.com, Allied Owners Action Fund and MetaMarkets.com all pulled the plug on their struggling online fund offerings.
Whatifi.com has struggled to garner assets exclusively through online means. Last year the company partnered with
The partnership did not yield sufficient inflow of assets to keep the funds afloat, said Harris Fricker, CEO of Whatifi.com. "Quite frankly, we werent seeing traction gathering assets through our partnership," he said. A call to Amicus Financial was not returned by press time.
While the Van Ness funds will no longer be available, Whatifi.com will continue to exist and will continue to provide investment advice, Fricker said. Moreover, Fricker said the funds will be liquidated but not deregistered. "Weve mothballed the funds and we havent deregistered them," he said. "Were seeking other ways to get the funds to the mainstream market." Fricker did not elaborate on those plans.
As of June 30, 2001, all of the Van Ness funds, which were part of a master/feeder structure with Barclays Global Advisors, had low levels of assets. The Van Ness S&P Index Fund had just $44,097 in assets under management; the Extended Market Index Fund had $34,484 in assets; the International Index Fund had $32,886 in assets; the Total Bond Index Fund had $38,547 in assets and the Money Market Fund had $35,497.
