Investment funds originated in Britain, but prevailed in the United States. After the First World War, the United States replaced Britain as the new hegemon of the world economy, and jumped from a capital importing country to a capital exporting country. With the rapid growth of American economy, the increasingly complex economic activities make it more and more difficult for some investors to judge the economic trend. In order to effectively promote foreign trade and foreign investment, the United States began to introduce the investment trust fund system. 1926 The Massachusetts Financial Services Company in Boston established the Massachusetts Investment Trust Company, which became the first modern mutual fund in the United States. In the following years, the fund experienced its first glorious period in the United States. By the end of the 1920s, the total assets of all closed-end funds had reached $2.8 billion, while the total assets of open-end funds were only $6,543.8+$400 million, but the growth rate of the latter was higher than that of closed-end funds. In the 1920s, the total asset value increased by more than 20% every year, and the growth rate of 1927 exceeded 100%.

The global stock market plunged from 65438 points to 0929 points, which dealt a heavy blow to the emerging American fund industry. With the global economic downturn, most investment companies have closed down, and the rest are unsustainable. But in comparison, the loss of closed-end funds is greater than that of open-end funds. The financial crisis reduced the total assets of American investment funds by about 50%. Since then, the securities industry has been at a low ebb throughout the 1930s. Faced with the shortage of funds and low industrial productivity caused by the Great Depression, people lost confidence in investment, and with the outbreak of the Second World War, the investment fund industry once stopped. After the crisis, in order to protect the interests of investors, the U.S. government enacted the securities law of 1933 and the securities trading law of 1934, followed by the investment company law of 1940 and the investment consultant law specifically for investment funds. The Investment Company Law specifies the legal elements of the composition and management of investment funds in detail, which provides investors with complete legal protection and lays a good legal foundation for the rapid development of investment funds in the future. Investment funds are popular all over the world. A quarter of American households invest in investment funds (known as * * * mutual funds in the United States). Funds have become the second largest financial industry after commercial banks and play a leading role in the stock market. In the 1990s, 80% of the new funds invested in American stock market came from mutual funds. 1993, individual investment in the United States only accounts for 20% of the stock market value, while mutual funds have exceeded 50%.