We document that, on average, U.S. equity mutual funds prefer realizing capital losses rather than capital gains. A substantial fraction of the sample, however, exhibits the opposite tendency of realizing gains more readily than losses. The documented tendency for this subset appears to be due...

Using detailed holdings of exchange-traded options, we examine how mutual funds use options and how options affect portfolio performance and risk. Options users underperform nonusers by two to three percent per year. The underperformance is especially pronounced for funds that are heavy users of...

Rationality would suggest that advice-seeking investors receive benefits from costly financial advice. However, evidence documenting these benefits for U.S. investors has so far been lacking. This paper is the first to document that U.S. mutual fund investors indeed receive one of the many...

This study shows that financial advisors provide useful tax advice to their clients, being the first to provide evidence of tangible benefits delivered by financial advisors in the U.S. We find that investors who purchase mutual fund shares through financial advisors exhibit a stronger tendency...

We investigate the abilities of buy-side analysts by analyzing nontraditional mutual funds that are exclusively managed by in-house analysts rather than traditional portfolio managers. Analysts exhibit stronger general and job-specific investment abilities than traditional managers from within...

This study shows that financial advisors provide useful tax advice to their clients, being the first to provide evidence of tangible benefits delivered by financial advisors in the U.S. We find that investors who purchase mutual fund shares through financial advisors exhibit a stronger tendency...

Using detailed options holdings, we examine how mutual funds' use of options affects performance and risk. Using options generates, on average, no performance advantages. In fact, funds that follow certain distinct strategies underperformed. The only salutary impact is lower portfolio risk for a...

The validity of the price marks placed on bonds for valuation purposes is important for a diverse group of stakeholders, including investors, mutual fund managers, dealers, pricing services, and financial regulators. We analyze the dispersion of monthend price marks simultaneously placed on...