Mutual Funds Investor Brochure Issued
NOTE TO EDITORS: This is the last of six news releases provided by the Nova Scotia Securities Commission in advance of Investor Education Week, April 25-May 1.
Mutual funds are the single most common investment held by Canadians, but few investors have a thorough knowledge of what they are about.
A new brochure can help investors learn more about mutual funds and increase their awareness of investment risk. It is produced by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) for Investor Education Week, April 25-May 1.
An Angus Reid survey commissioned in 1998 by the Ontario Securities Commission found that fewer than one in five --or 18 per cent --Ontarians consider themselves highly knowledgeable in personal financial investments. One in four --26 per cent --did not understand the relationship between risk and return. Figures like these heighten concern that the investing public needs more information to become more aware investors.
The CSA, comprising the 12 provincial and territorial securities regulators, is responding with Mutual Funds: What You Need to Know, and three other new educational aids. The others are a financial planning worksheet, a brochure on exempt market securities titled Look Before You Leap!, and Securities: The Poster, a large colour chart explaining and comparing different types of securities.
What You Need to Know tells what mutual funds are, explains the various types, and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of funds as investment vehicles. It also asks and answers questions relating to regulations, investor protection and what to expect from a salesperson when buying into a fund.
"The industry provides a variety of brochures on mutual funds, but CSA wanted to present information from a different source," said Nicholas Pittas, director of securities for the Nova Scotia Securities Commission. "The brochure provides basic, objective information in a non-promotional fashion."
This is the second annual Investor Education Week, an initiative organized by CSA to help investors develop awareness and tools for assessing investment risk.
What You Need to Know and the other educational materials are available at no charge from the Nova Scotia Securities Commission by phoning 902-424-7768 or e-mailing [email protected] .
The Nova Scotia Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province.