Democratizing investing (a bit)

Watching the stock-price ticker tape in 1918.

“Many people think of Boston as the birthplace of democracy in our country. They may not realize it is also the birthplace {in 1924} of the democratization of investing. It was there… that three stock salesmen {Sherman Adams, Charles H. Learoyd and Ashton L. Carr} created the first mutual fund and opened up what was once an exclusive province of the affluent to just about everyone.’’

— Anne Kates Smith, executive editor, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

From Wikipedia:

“The first mutual fund in the United States, and one of the earliest globally, was the Massachusetts Investors Trust (MIT), established in 1924. This fund paved the way for the modern mutual fund industry by offering a way for individual investors to pool their resources and invest in a diversified portfolio of securities.’’