Funds that have more complicated names perform worse than less-wordy peers, study finds

• A mutual fund’s name length can indicate how well it performs, a study led by Derek Horstmeyer found.
• Funds with more complicated names tended to do worse than funds with simpler names.
• One possible reason is that complex-named funds are more speculative and use buzzwords to attract investors.

A mutual fund’s name may now become an additional point of consideration when investing.

That’s after a George Mason University study found that actively managed funds with more complicated names mostly saw smaller pre- and post-tax returns than those with simpler names.