# Does anyone read prospecti? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587 "2016-08-31T18:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/1 "2016-08-31T18:45:16Z")
I get these in the mail all the freaking time. Mostly from Mutual funds, but also other investment vehicles. I always open the envelope look at the grey, newsprint brochure, and dump them in the recycle bin. Does anyone actually read these? Should I be reading them? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/2 "2016-08-31T18:54:44Z")
Save a few dozen trees and find out how to get the prospecti in your email. There should be info in there somewhere. I forget where I found the info for mine, but it worked and my carbon footprint feels a whole lot smaller. No, I don’t read them. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/3 "2016-08-31T22:28:09Z")
It doesn’t matter what it says. Even if your investment is secured by a company’s assets, you will get nothing if they go bankrupt and the lawyers will get whatever they did have. I had one company go bankrupt on me and after 2 years of bankruptcy lawyer fees, there was a teeny tiny bit of money left. The lawyers proposed using that money for a lawyers student education fund! I could have hired my own lawyer to protest that, but that would have caused me to lose even more money… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/4 "2016-09-01T15:53:54Z")
Anyone else read these things? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/5 "2016-09-02T01:01:05Z")
There’s no need to read it unless you invest in the enterprise, and it fails, and you lose your investment. _Then_ you read it closely to see if it disclosed the material risk that in fact led to the collapse. If not, you may have a case against those who issued and/or signed off on the prospectus. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/6 "2016-09-02T03:23:11Z")
I read them and other types of SEC filings daily as part of my job as a trader. As a normal guy with retirement money in index funds, they go straight to the trash. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/7 "2016-09-02T03:48:52Z")
I read them if I am considering investing in one. I used to be in the biz. Most prospecti contain very relevant information of why you should avoid them. Thing is, a fund can advertise all sorts of crap. The perspectus has to be factual. Of course, decades ago, investment banks realized the way to camouflage bad news is to include 100 pages of things that might possibly could potentially go wrong while burying their toxic shit in there somewhere. But if you read through carefully and know what to look for, then you can find the toxic shit. I give those a pass ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-read-prospecti/764587/8 "2016-09-02T04:02:49Z")
Likewise. I won’t bother with unsolicited material, but if I’m thinking of investing in a company I always read the prospectus. It’s like a first reference point.