On August 30, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its findings of a staff study (the “Study”), as mandated by Section 917 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), identifying the existing level of financial literacy among retail investors as well as the methods and efforts to increase the financial literacy of investors. The Study identifies investor preferences regarding a variety of investment disclosures, such as that investors prefer to receive investment disclosures prior to investing. The Study also identifies information that investors find useful and relevant in helping them make informed investment decisions, such as information about fees, investment objectives, performance, strategy, and risks of an investment product, as well as the professional background, disciplinary history, and conflicts of interest of a financial professional. The Study also shows that investors favor disclosure of investment information in a visual format, using bullets, charts, and graphs.
