SEC may come to mutual fund investors' rescue

Today's Wall Street Journalreports that the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to consider changes to help investors compare choices in the nearly $12 trillion mutual-fund industry through use of summary information. Here's a link to the actual press release from the SEC itself.

Though not a binding vote (passage of the changes would require a second SEC vote), the proposed changes sound like a relatively good thing for investors. Investors looking at mutual fund investments would have more "plain-English" sales and disclosure literature to access. In addition to a full-blown prospectus that each mutual fund publishes, a greater use would be made of summary information through a variety of channels, including greater use of the Internet.