PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Arturo Rodríguez Castellanos
AU  - Belén Vallejo Alonso
TI  - Spanish Mutual Fund Misclassification
AID  - 10.3905/joi.2005.479388
DP  - 2005 Feb 28
TA  - The Journal of Investing
PG  - 41--51
VI  - 14
IP  - 1
4099  - https://pm-research.com/content/14/1/41.short
4100  - https://pm-research.com/content/14/1/41.full
AB  - Mutual fund classifications are a tool for defining fund characteristics for marketing and comparison purposes. If fund managers can manipulate the characteristics of mutual fund portfolios for financial incentives, they may convey confusing signals that encourage investors to select funds not appropriate to their needs. Analysis of a database of Spanish mutual funds to see whether funds in the same category are comparable and whether funds in different categories are indeed different shows that 33% of funds are misclassified. This result demonstrates the weaknesses of current classification systems in providing a reliable reference for fund evaluation and selection.