Five million more Americans have become mutual fund shareholders during the past year, bringing total mutual fund ownership to 88 million individuals in 2000, according to the Investment Company Institute. That number is up from 83 million in 1999, according to the ICI.
An estimated 50.6 million U.S. households, or nearly one in two households, owned mutual funds as of June 2000, according to an ICI survey of 3000 randomly-selected U.S. households conducted in June 2000. This is a 4.5 percent increase from 1999, the ICI reported.
Sixty-seven percent of mutual fund shareholders have household incomes of less than $75,000, the survey found. Thirty-two percent of all households with incomes less than $50,000 owned mutual funds, and 72 percent with incomes of $50,000 or more owned mutual funds.
While most households with mutual fund are headed by an individual 35 to 54 years old, the largest increase in fund ownership over the last two years has been among households headed by individuals 25 to 34 years old, the ICI survey found.
