This Article explains how to create “survivor funds” — short-term investment funds that would pay more to those investors who live until the end of the fund's term than to those who die before then. For example, instead of just investing in a 10-year bond and dividing the proceeds among...

Many college and university 403(b) plans restrict the menu of investment choices to funds offered by TIAA-CREF, the current manager of over half of all 403(b) contributions. Further, in the face of Internal Revenue Code changes that will take effect in 2006 and will make 403(b) plan ERISA...

Many college and university 403(b) plans restrict the menu of investment choices to funds offered by TIAA-CREF, the current manager of over half of all 403(b) contributions. Further, in the face of Internal Revenue Code changes that will take effect in 2006 and will make 403(b) plan ERISA...

This paper uses an administrative panel dataset to examine Swedish households' socially responsible investing (SRI) in mutual funds. We zoom in on the differences between all and wealthy households because of the wealthy households' importance for the economy. Surprisingly, wealthy households...

This article investigates the heterogeneity in the tax elasticities of personal capital gains realizations. We first examine the skewed nature of both capital gains assets ownership and their realizations. We then briefly review earlier studies, including Dowd, McClelland, and Muthitacharoen...

Whether financial advisors provide useful services for clients that seek to invest in mutual funds remains an open question. We are the first to show that financial advisors generate tangible benefits for their clients in the form of useful tax advice. Specifically, financial advisors help...

We are the first to show that financial advisors generate tangible benefits for their clients in the form of useful tax advice. Investors who purchase mutual funds through financial advisors exhibit a stronger tendency of avoiding taxable distributions than those who do not. Our calculations...

Rationality suggests that advice-seeking investors receive benefits from financial advice that are comparable in value to the fees paid for such advice. However, empirical evidence documenting these benefits for U.S. investors has so far been lacking. We document that U.S. mutual fund investors...

Rationality would suggest that advice-seeking investors receive benefits from costly financial advice. However, evidence documenting these benefits for U.S. investors has so far been lacking. This paper is the first to document that U.S. mutual fund investors indeed receive one of the many...