“Who says mutual funds can’t make you rich?”

Over at the Mutual Fund Observer’s April monthly issue, David Snowball annotates and adds to a semi-complete list of Forbes billionaire listees who’ve made their bones in mutual funds…

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Forbes magazine published their annual list of “The Richest People on the Planet” (03/04/2013), tracking down almost 1500 billionaires in the process. (None, oddly, teachers by profession.)

MFWire scoured the list for “The Richest Fundsters in the Game” (03/06/2013). They ended up naming nine while missing a handful of others. Here’s their list with my additions…

• Charles Brandes, Brandes funds, #1342, $1.0 billion
• Thomas Bailey, Janus founder, #1342, $1.0 billion
• Mario Gabelli, Gamco #1175, $1.2 billion
• Michael Price, former Mutual Series mgr, #1107, $1.3 billion.
• Fayez Sarofim, Dreyfus Appreciation mgr, #1031, $1.4 billion
• Ron Baron, Baron Funds #931, $1.6 billion.
• Howard Marks, TCW then Oaktree Capital, #922, $1.65 billion
• Joe Mansueto, Morningstar #793, $1.9 billion.
• Ken Fisher, investment guru and source of pop-up ads, #792, $1.9 billion
• Bill Gross, PIMCO, #641, $2.3 billion
• Charles Schwab (the person), Charles Schwab (the company) #299, $4.3 billion.
• Paul Desmarais, whose Power Financial backs Putnam #276, $4.5 billion.
• Rupert Johnson, Franklin Templeton #215, $5.6 billion.
• Charles Johnson, Franklin Templeton #211, $5.7 billion.
• Ned Johnson, Fidelity #166, worth $7 billion.
• Abby Johnson, Fidelity #74, $12.7 billion.

The thing that strikes me is how much of these folks I’d entrust my money to, if only because so many became so rich on wealth transfer (in the form of fees paid by their shareholders) rather than wealth creation.

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Josh here: Rather a jaundiced takeaway from the Professor – but he knows how good the management fees business can be almost regardless of market conditions or the success of the products in besting their benchmarks.

Be sure to click over and subscribe to the Mutual Fund Observer’s monthly email, it’s always packed with fascinating insights from a true maven.

Source:

Mutual Fund Observer, April 2013