Fund Due Diligence: A Practical Guide for Advisors
How fund due diligence works: what to review, which documents to request, how to handle operational and real estate funds, and when to bring in outside…
Finance · Fund distribution · Connecticut
Connor Houlihan
Fund distribution from 2011 to 2024, at Fidelity, DWS and Foreside. Written plainly.
I spent thirteen years on the distribution side of the fund business: getting the right product in front of the right adviser, with the right paperwork, at the right time. Most of finance is plumbing. This site is where I explain the plumbing, from Connecticut.
Selected essays
All essays →Finance and Community in Connecticut
Connecticut’s finance landscape is shaped by a mix of large institutions, asset managers, advisory firms, entrepreneurs, and communities connected to New York and New England. That…
How to Read Form ADV Without Getting Lost
Form ADV without getting lost: the Part 1 items that matter, the Part 2A brochure, Part 2B and Form CRS, and how a fund wholesaler used…
Mutual Fund Share Classes and Fees: A Practical Guide
Share classes A, C, I, R and clean shares explained: loads, breakpoints, 12b-1 caps, what sits inside an expense ratio, an illustrative comparison, and how to…
Due Diligence in Plain English: Questions Before You Invest
A plain-English due diligence sequence: primary documents, facts versus forecasts, the questions in order, how to check people on BrokerCheck and IAPD, red flags, and what…
Fund Distribution Explained: The Bridge Between Products and Investors
How investment products reach advisers and institutions, who does the work, how a fund gets onto a platform, and the documents and rules behind every fund…
The record
Five firms, 2011 to 2024
- 2011 to 2015Fidelity Brokerage ServicesWhere the registered career began: products, channels and regulators before anything else.
- 2015 to 2020DWS Distributors, ChicagoThe asset-manager side of the table: explaining funds to the advisers and institutions that evaluate them.
- 2020Sentinus-Halo SecuritiesA short registration in the middle of 2020.
- 2020 to 2024Foreside Fund ServicesA third-party distributor serving many fund sponsors: the distribution and compliance plumbing most people never see.
- 2024Alto SecuritiesThe final registration on the record.
Connecticut, on purpose
Between two financial capitals, in neither
Hartford's insurers and asset managers, the investment firms of Stamford and Greenwich, and a pace of life that leaves room for a late round of golf. Connecticut is the home market for the local writing here.
How I work
I aim to explain complex systems accurately, distinguish documented facts from opinion, and link readers to primary sources wherever possible. Where a claim comes from a prospectus, a filing or a published study, the essay says so. Where a passage is my judgment from experience, it is labeled as such. This site is educational and editorial, not individualized investment advice.