LIPPER SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST DON CASSIDY ON KTLK AM-760
Thursday, Oct. 11
Q. Good morning, Don. You have some pretty big news this week in the funds world? A. Right. And I want to let Robin Thurston, my boss and our Director of Research, do the talking...
Q. Good morning, Robin. So tell us, what IS this new "Lipper Leaders" system?
A. Lipper Leaders is a new system for rating funds. It should help individual investors and their advisers select funds that fit their own investment goals, such as consistent return or preservation of capital. Lipper Leaders are the top 20% of funds within these designations.
Q. Why did Lipper create them?
A. We did it for several reasons. First, we wanted to create a system that was more investor-centered than existing rating systems that try to be one size fits all. Specifically we wanted to create apples to apples comparison for investors. Second, we wanted investors and their advisers to have a tool kit that would give them the ability to narrow down the universe to a select group of funds that focused on their overall investment goals, to help in building a diversified portfolio that truly meets their long-term goals.
Q. How long have they been in R&D?
A. Several of Lipper's analysts have been working on this for over two years. So a lot of work has been done to create sophisticated measures that are delivered in a simple way.
Q. For whom are these of MOST use?
A. The initial measures are really focused on long-term investors with time horizons of more than 1 year.
Q. Where can people find them? Newspapers? Websites?
A. The main place individual investors can go to get information on the system is www.lipperleaders.com, but soon most investors will also see the information in major national newspapers and on several high traffic internet websites.
Q. Are they free to the public, RIAs, and the fund companies?
A. Right! There's no charge for seeing which funds are Lipper Leaders on the new website.
Q. How often are the results updated?
A. Lipper Leader funds for Consistent Return and Preservation are calculated monthly and posted on LipperLeaders.com by the end of the 5th business day.
Q. Can you explain in main-street terms what those measures mean, how you calculate them?
A. Sure: Funds designated Lipper Leaders for Consistent Return have demonstrated superior consistency and risk-adjusted returns relative to other funds of the same type, so Large-cap Growth funds are compared to other Large-cap Growth funds. Lipper Leaders for Preservation have preserved capital better than other funds within the same broad asset class, so equity funds are compared to other equity funds.
Q. Will there be more measures? Examples? When?
A. It's really a suite of tools, so we will be introducing several more in the 1st quarter of 2002. Currently, we are working on Lipper Leaders measures for tax-efficiency and expenses. So look for those in the coming months.
Q. One last questions. How do the Denver funds fall out in Lipper's new system?
A. There are funds from most of the local fund families: Janus, Invesco, Westcore, Aristata, ICON, Dreyfus/Founders, and Berger. So check out the website and take a look for yourself.
Q. Robin, if our listeners have questions, how can they contact you?
A. Send me an email at LipperLeaders@lipper.reuters.com.
