As mild-mannered as Robinson might have appeared, there was something powerful about the way he spoke, especially about protecting other people’s money. He insisted that mutual funds were built to address the long-term needs of all investors, large and small, and he spoke passionately about past achievements, commitment to risk management and pursuit of long-term gains on behalf of clients.
After spending so much time with Robinson, Time’s reporters came to the following conclusion in their 1959 article titled “The Prudent Man”: “The fund that has done more than any other to put shares in the household sugar bowl is Massachusetts Investors Trust, oldest and biggest of the mutual funds and the one that set the pattern for all the rest.”15,16
Shortly after the piece was published, a flood of letters from around the world poured into both Time’s and MFS’ offices.17 One mutual fund salesman called the story the “quickest and best explanation of what mutual funds are about.”18 A couple from Connecticut were so taken with Robinson’s portrayal of MFS that they enclosed a $50 check to purchase shares of MIT.19 One of the most heart-warming responses to the article came from a Missouri librarian, one of the small everyday investors that the firm sought to champion. She summed up Robinson’s legacy by writing “Somehow the story in Time made me glad I am an American and live in a country where I can write a letter to a busy executive and be certain that he cares about the trust of little people.”20
It is because of Robinson’s profound influence throughout his more than 30 years at MFS that the crucial importance of knowing what the firm owns for its clients through “bottom-up fundamental research” and “kicking the tires on a potential investment” has become so integral to MFS’ makeup today.21
Please note: Not all of the funds included in this material may be available for sale in your country.
Endnotes
7 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine.
8 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine.
9 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine.
10 Dwight Robinson, retired chairman of Mass. Investors Trust fund; at 89 (July 15, 1989). The Boston Globe. Page 17.
11 Henderson B. and Ward, S. (January 10, 2000). All-Stars: A look at the fund world’s heaviest hitters. Barron’s. Page 80.
12 Henderson and Ward, page 80.
13 Henderson and Ward, page 80.
14 Griffeth, B. (1995). The Mutual Fund Masters. Probus Publishing.
15 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine
16 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine
17 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine
18 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine
19 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine
20 The Prudent Man. Time Magazine
21 Earle-Levine, J. (Jun 24, 2003). Valuing Friends in High Places. The Financial Times. London.