"Sin" Fund Shutters Doors

August 25, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - MorganFunShares, a closed-end fund whose claim to "fame" was a belief that people will always drink, smoke, and gamble, is closing up shop.

Cleveland, Ohio-based MorganFunShares with roughly $8 million in assets says it will be liquidated before the end of the year because it was too expensive to run after Burton Morgan, its founder, chairman, and former investment advisor, died in March.

Morgan, who was in his 80s when he died, launched the fund in 1994 because he believed people will not cut back on liquor, tobacco, or gambling habits even in bad economic times. The fund’s biggest holdings include gaming company International Game Tech, Anheuser-Busch, and Wrigley.

Morgan had owned about 49.3% of the funds’ shares outstanding in the closed-end fund.

Common wisdom holds that mutual funds usually need at least $50 million in assets to be profitable.   MorganFunShares had an expense ratio of 2%.

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