It certainly is good advice. Kathryn Morrison and Dan Sondhelm, president and vice president respectively of the public relations and marketing firm SunStar, have been arguing since the year began that portfolio managers should be out in public working to soothe investors' nerves and to ease their concerns. They have very definitively been expressing the opinion that managers should not be burying their heads in the sand.

Yesterday, it appeared that at least some managers were getting the message. SunStar held one of its regular market outlook and investment press briefings at the Inter-Continental Hotel here in New York City. The managers included: Emma Lewis, manager of the Delaware International Value Equity Fund (DEGIX); Mary Ann Fernandez, manager of the ING Principal Protection Fund IV (APRAX); Mark Foster, chief investment officer for Kirr Marbach Partners (KMVAX); Bill Dwyer, manager of the Vision Small Cap Stock Fund (GVAGX); and Michael Stead, manager of the Wells Fargo SIFE Specialized Financial Services Fund (SIFEX).

Most of the managers oversee funds that witnessed declining share prices during the calendar year. Yet, all stuck to their message about the investment philosophies of their respective funds and the methods by which they access equities. For investors, it is important that managers do place a fund's performance in context with the overall economic landscape, and these executives were certainly working on getting their message out.

One manager who did not have such issues, however, was Fernandez. Her fund has either stayed flat or shown a little growth over the course of 2002. "Investors are thinking much more conservatively these days," she contended. "The job of the protection fund is to protect the monies that go into the fund."

"Why is this popular now? Investors are concerned about losing their principle. For the long-term conservative investor, we have become very appealing. We have downside protection, but we can move into equities in the event of an upturn," she explained.

"Our fee structure can be extensive. We are not the go-go fund of the 1990's. We have been around since 1987, and we have always believed we offer an important product for our clients. It has only been recently, though, that investors have really taken notice of this offering," Fernandez continued. "Now, they are getting the message."

The world of investing has changed significantly in the last two years. Fund firms need to offer products that matches investors' moods. But more importantly, they still need to be visible, letting their story be known. 

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