Investors Proud to Buy American Funds

Mutual fund manager American Funds is killing the competition softly.

American Funds is having another superb year, having reaped $55 billion into its mutual fund offerings through July, $16 billion more than second-place Vanguard., The Wall Street Journal reports.

The key to American's success? There are no advertisements, or many words to the press, or superstar managers. American Funds is a company based on a team concept. If mutual fund companies had to wear jerseys like athletes, American would be the firm that did not put individual players' names on the backs.

If American's ferocious pace continues a few more years, Financial Research Corp. says it could overtake Vanguard and Fidelity as the nation’s No. 1 fund firm.

However, American’s success is not a new phenomenon. The Journal cited some staggering statistics from the last 30 years, including one that compared what a $1,000 investment in the S&P 500 in June 1973 would be now – ($26,000) to what of a $1,000 investment in American's Growth Fund of America Fund would be now – ($72,000).

The one problem, strange as it sounds, may be the continuous success. With more investors putting their money into American's funds, the managers may not have places to invest the new cash. But American shunned that idea, with a spokesman saying the company would hire additional portfolio managers and that it would continue to be a model of consistency.

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Money Management Executive
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