Seasonality In Mutual Fund Flows

Abstract

In this paper I establish the presence of seasonality in cash flows to U.S. domestic mutual funds. January is the month with the highest net cash flows to equity funds and December is the month with the lowest net cash flows. The large net flows in January are attributed to increased purchases, and the small net flows in December are due to increased redemptions. Thus, the turn-of-the-year period is the time that most mutual fund investors make their investment decisions.