A Comparative Analysis on the Performance of Various Attributes and Investors Behavior of Mutual Fund: Understanding the Performance and Behavior of Investors in Mutual Funds

Abstract

Mutual funds have openednew vistas to millions of small investors by virtually taking investment totheir doorstep. In India,a small investor generally goes for such kind of information, which do notprovide hedge against inflation and often have negative real returns. First,investors buy funds with strong past performance; over half of all fundpurchases occur in funds ranked in the top quintile of past annual returns.Second, investors sell funds with strong past performance and are reluctant tosell their losing fund investments; they are twice as likely to sell a winningmutual fund rather than a losing mutual fund and, thus, nearly 40 percent offund sales occur in funds ranked in the topquintile of past annual returns. Third, investors are sensitive to theform in which fund expenses are charged; though investors are less likely tobuy funds with high transaction fees (e.g., broker commissions or front-endload fees), their purchases are relatively insensitive to a fund’s operatingexpense ratio. He finds himself to be an odd man out in the investment game.