When Your Fund Beats the Market, Ask: Which Market?

Image Credit: Alex Nabaum

Mutual-fund votes are usually pro-forma rituals in which investors do whatever the fund manager asks. An upcoming one at Putnam Investments should have investors asking what the manager has been doing.

On Apr. 15, shareholders in Putnam Capital Spectrum Fund were scheduled to decide on a proposal to merge the mutual fund out of existence after years of dismal performance. The vote, stymied by the coronavirus shutdown, will likely be rescheduled for later this spring.

Putnam launched Capital Spectrum (and a sibling fund, Equity Spectrum) in 2009 with unusual objectives and fees.

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This article was originally published on The Wall Street Journal.

Further reading

Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor