Funds That Lock Up Your Money—On Purpose

Interval funds make withdrawals harder so they can make wilder investments.

- John Gittelsohn

The hottest thing in investing for the past decade has been low-cost exchange-traded funds, which investors can hop in and out of anytime the market is open. So here’s a strange proposition: How about buying a fund with higher fees and restrictions on when you can take out your money?

Some big asset managers think investors are ready to take that offer. Pacific Investment Management Co., Blackstone Group, Ares Management, and even BlackRock—the ETF giant—have all introduced “interval funds” in the past two years. Interval funds restrict total withdrawals to a range of 5% to 25% of fund assets in a specified period, such as once a quarter. James Seyffart, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, likens them to the Hotel California, with a twist: “You can only sometimes leave.”