The Investment Company Institute, which is the trade association for the mutual fund industry, has just come out with its profile of the fund business for 2011. Last year, the average owner of mutual fund shares was "middle-aged, employed, educated, married or living with a partner, and shared investment decision making with his or her spouse or partner." That's all to be expected, but the financial picture the report paints is a little more interesting.
The ICI describes the typical fund owner as "of moderate financial means, with $80,000 in household income and $200,000 in household financial assets." That makes mutual funds sound like a very middle-class investment, yet these households had an average of $120,000 invested in four mutual funds, including at least one equity fund. Of all mutual-fund-owning households, 42 percent, or nearly half, had assets greater than $250,000.
Many investors are retired, of course, and living off their investments. That would explain why assets for mutual fund investors are fairly high, while their annual income is relatively low.
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