Seasonal Asset Allocation: Evidence from Mutual Fund Flows

This paper explores U.S. mutual fund flows, finding strong evidence of seasonal reallocation across funds based on fund exposure to risk. We show that substantial money moves from U.S. equity to U.S. money market and government bond mutual funds in the fall, then back to equity funds in the spring, controlling for the influence of past performance, advertising, liquidity needs, capital gains overhang, and year-end influences on fund flows. We find strong correlation between U.S. mutual fund net flows (and within-fund-family exchanges) and a proxy for variation in investor risk aversion across the seasons. We find similar seasonal evidence in Canadian fund flows, as well as in fund flows from Australia where the seasons are six months out of phase relative to Canada and the U.S. While prior evidence regarding the influence of seasonally changing risk aversion on financial markets relies on seasonal patterns in asset returns, we provide the first direct trade-related evidence. JEL Classification: G11