Keeping Track

One of the easiest ways to invest keeps growing in popularity.

An estimated 48.4 million, or 47.4 percent, of all US households owned mutual funds in 1999. That figure is up 9 percent from last year, according to a new study by the private, nonprofit Investment Company Institute in Washington.

Growth in fund ownership occurred mostly in two household groups: those with incomes under $50,000 and those with financial decisionmakers under age 55, says the study.

Meanwhile, the number of individual investors owning mutual funds rose to 83 million in 1999, up by 6 million from last year.

The study also found that more households in all income groups typically own stock mutual funds than bond, money-market, or hybrid funds.

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society