Ok, for the big financial brains here - what about the "branded" mutual funds?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

If xyz insurance company and brokerage go down the tubes, would xyz S&P index mutual fund also go down the tubes?

Is the fund's well-being tied to the well-being of their creator and host or are they stand alone entities that are separate from their hosts and namesakes?

[Rage for Order]

1. Generally speaking, no

The shares of stock that a mutual fund purchases on your behalf are held in a trust, so you'd still have your stock. Unless, of course, your mutual fund was largely invested in shares of the mutual fund company that failed. An index fund tracks a stock exchange index, e.g. S&P 500, the NYSE, Nasdaq, Nikkei, or other index. The shares are mathematically weighted to represent the index as a whole. For example, let's say the NYSE has a total value of $100, and the total market capitalization (# of shares outstanding x share price) of Microsoft is $2. This, of course, would equal 2% of the total of the NYSE. Your index fund would put 2% of its assets into Microsoft to reflect this. The holdings are re-weighted at regular intervals to track the overall index as closely as possible.