The Fund Industry's Best-Kept Secret (Hint: It's Not Good for You)

If your broker is pitching a PaineWebber, Oppenheimer or Kemper mutual fund to buy before year-end, you might want to ask if he or she is fired up about the fund or its payout.

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What's Going On? Fund Managers Give Their Views and It Isn't Pretty

Right now, the distributors of PaineWebber, Oppenheimer and Kemper funds are offering one or more brokerage firms a boosted commission to sell certain funds by year-end, when fund sales often dip. It's a fairly common promotional practice, called full-dealer reallowance, that doesn't cost investors more money but might cause a few less scrupulous brokers to put their own paychecks ahead of a client's long-term needs. It also might be one of the fund industry's best-kept secrets, since it's only disclosed in little-read fund documents. ...