January 18, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Federal
securities regulators announced Wednesday they have adopted a
new rule aimed at preventing investors from being misled by
deceptive names of mutual funds.
The rule, adopted by the Securities and Exchange
Commission requires, for example, that funds with the
words “health care” in their names invest at least 80
percent of their assets in health-care company stocks, up
from the current 65 percent.
A mutual fund will not be allowed to change the investment
strategy suggested by its name unless it gets prior approval
from shareholders or notifies them at least 60 days in
advance.
In addition, funds are prohibited from using any name
suggesting that its investments are guaranteed or approved by
the US government.
Paul Roye, director of the SEC’s Division of Investment
Management, said the new rule “will contribute greatly to
‘truth in labeling’ of mutual funds” and benefit investors.
He cautioned, however, that a fund’s name cannot tell its
whole story and that people should read a fund’s prospectus
before investing in it.
Some 88 million Americans invest in mutual funds, whose
total assets are estimated at $6.8 trillion, up from around
$1 trillion in 1990.
The survey by the Pew Internet & American Life
Project found that an average six million Americans surf
the Web for health information each day while 62% of
Internet users (73 million people) reported that they’ve
gone online for medical advice – termed “health seekers” in
the study. The 73-million figure was up dramatically from
the Pew November 2000, which put the number of online
health information consumers at 52 million.
Significantly, the Pew survey found that only about a
third of health seekers follow the medical profession’s
recommendation to show what they found online to their
family doctor before adopting it. Why? Three quarters of
respondents said most or all of the health information on
the Internet is believable.
Health seekers are more likely to be women (72%) than
men (51%) and between 50 and 64 years old (71%) compared to
the twenty-something crowd where 53% looked online for
health information.
The health topics for which people searched include:
a specified illness or condition, 93%
nutrition, exercise, or weight control, 65%
prescription drugs, 64%
alternative or experimental treatments or
medications, 48%
a mental health issue such as depression, 39%
a health topic too sensitive to talk about, 33%
background about a doctor or hospital, 32%.
Internet users told Pew researchers that they were
usually successful in finding what they were looking for
(82%). They’re using the information they come up with in
dealing with their health issues with 61% saying the online
data helped them “some” or “a lot.”
About a third of respondents said they knew someone who
had been helped by online health data.
The silver lining for the medical profession in the Pew
study is that although many more patients are pointing and
clicking for health information, they still mostly rely on
physicians for firm diagnoses.
Only 18% of e-patients say they have used online advice
to diagnose a medical condition on their own rather than
consult a doctor. In fact, online health information
apparently is improving doctor-patient discussions. Some
37% percent of patients say they talked to their doctor
about the information they found online, and 79% report
their doctor was interested in the information.
The Pew report comes from two surveys by Princeton
Survey Research Associates – one conducted between June 19
and August 6, 2001 of 500 Internet users and a second
between March 1 and March 31, 2002 of 2,410 adults.