Investor Distrust

There's a crisis of confidence in mutual fund companies. According to a recent survey by Cambridge, Mass.-based research firm Forrester, less than one-third of U.S. households agree that their mutual fund companies can be trusted to advertise honestly, outperform their competitors or even do the right thing. Only 29 percent of respondents say they trust mutual fund ads; just 30 percent think their mutual fund manages money better than its competitors; and 31 percent believe their fund company is more trustworthy than its peers.