The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) provides valuable tools for investors to make informed decisions. One such tool is the FINRA Fund Analyzer, designed to help investors evaluate and compare different investment funds. In the second quarter of 2021, the Fund Analyzer received significant enhancements to improve its functionality and user experience. This article will explore these updates in detail, providing investors with a comprehensive understanding of the tool's latest capabilities.
The updates to the FINRA Fund Analyzer focused on providing users with more flexibility, detailed analysis, and improved usability. Let's delve into each of these improvements.
This feature allows users to analyze the same fund in multiple ways. By using the "Duplicate" function, investors can evaluate different scenarios and configurations for a specific fund, considering factors like fund values and costs under varying conditions.
The Fund Analyzer now supports the evaluation of trades for traditional mutual fund share classes, ETFs, ETNs, money market funds, and transaction shares (also known as "clean" shares). Transaction shares refer to any fund share where a transaction generates a sales load or commission after the initial investment.
Under the "Advanced Options," users can now evaluate trades using prospectus-based or brokerage commission-based pricing. Pricing can reflect load or no-load shares within a family, movement among families, or a transaction-share fee schedule.
The ability to toggle account aggregation on or off has been introduced. Disabling aggregation treats trades as separate transactions, which is especially useful for transaction shares that may not permit aggregation by default.
The Analyzer now reflects the impact of ticket charges, which are flat fees applied to buy, sell, and/or exchange transactions. By factoring in these costs, investors can get a more accurate view of their investment returns.
The fund search functionality has been enhanced, making it easier for users to select funds for "duplicate" analysis. This simplifies the process of comparing different scenarios for the same fund.
All aspects of the fund analysis and reference information are now front-and-center on the results page. Fund details that were previously on separate pages have been fully integrated into the fund analysis.
The Analyzer now calculates account values for funds across a range of returns (-20% to 20%) and holding periods (1 to 20 years). This allows investors to assess the impact of changes in return or holding period on their funds.
For transaction shares, the Analyzer calculates account values for trading frequencies ranging from annually to every 20 years, and holding periods from 1 to 20 years. This helps investors understand the impact of trading frequency on their fund performance.
This update includes an "as-of" date for each fund's 1, 3, 5, 10, and since inception return data, with monthly updates. This provides more transparency regarding the data's timeliness and relevance.
The print function has been redesigned to make it easier to print or save analyses as PDFs, improving the overall user experience.
The FINRA Fund Analyzer is a powerful tool for investors seeking to make informed decisions. By understanding the recent enhancements, investors can leverage the tool to:
The enhancements to the FINRA Fund Analyzer reflect FINRA's commitment to providing investors with accessible and powerful tools. These updates enable more detailed, accurate, and user-friendly fund analysis, empowering investors to make well-informed decisions and navigate the complexities of the investment world. By taking advantage of these features, investors can gain a deeper understanding of their investments and work towards achieving their financial objectives.