Law Commons^™

Star Creation: The Incubation Of Mutual Funds, Alan R. Palmiter, Ahmed E. Taha

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mutual fund incubation is a process by which new funds are initially operated out of public view. The high-performing funds are then marketed to investors, and the low-performing funds are quietly terminated. This selection process is not revealed to investors, thus creating the illusion that the successful funds' returns were the result of skill rather than luck. Also, some fund companies subsidize their incubator funds in ways that do not continue after the funds are sold to the public. As a result, the high returns of successful incubator funds generally do not persist after the funds are marketed to investors. …