What’s a Trillion Dollars Worth?

May 8, 2020
Barron’s: Oops! Invesco Forgot to Rebalance an Index Fund. It’s Repaying Investors $105 Million.

Fund giant Invesco (ticker: IVZ), which manages more than $1 trillion in assets, reported this week that it had failed to rebalance an S&P 500 equal-weight mutual fund in April, a mistake that initially cost investors $105 million. An ETF version of the fund, Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight (RSP), wasn’t impacted, highlighting how mutual fund and ETF performance can sometimes diverge.

Totally understandable. The last time I was managing a trillion dollars in assets, some of it was eaten by my dog, some was shredded by my cat, and some disappeared for weeks at a time in the crevices in our couch. No big deal. I made sure that those trusting me got most of their money back, once they spotted some of my errors. As I type this, I see a big bag of cash next to the fireplace. That’s just an accident waiting to happen. I should move that to somewhere safer someday.