MUTUAL FUNDS DLC
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2026 6:47 pm
Hi Team,
I would like to propose a Mutual Funds feature, ideally as an extension of the Banking and Finance DLC, since roughly 70 percent of the systems it needs already exist in the game: the stock market, the Global Stock Market, the bond market, including corporate, municipal and sovereign bonds, banks, insurance companies, and the Public Investors' Money pool from Realistic Money Supply.
THE CONCEPT
Let players found a Fund Management Company, a new firm type that creates and sells mutual funds to the public and to institutions, invests the pooled money across local stocks, global stocks and bonds, and earns management fees on assets under management, or AUM.
Banks, insurance companies, AI persons, AI corporations, and rival fund companies can all buy fund units. The player gets rich by growing AUM and performing well, not by spending the fund's money. The fund's assets belong to its investors. Only the fee stream belongs to the manager.
WHY THIS WOULD BE GREAT GAMEPLAY
1. A genuinely new business model: tiny capital needs, scalable fee income, but revenue collapses if performance fails. Nothing else in the game plays like it.
2. It deepens the Banking DLC instead of sitting beside it. Funds and banks would compete for the same household savings. Raising deposit rates drains fund inflows, and vice versa.
3. Performance pressure creates real drama. Poor returns trigger redemption runs, forcing fire sales into falling markets, which is the same feedback loop that makes real fund management stressful.
CORE MECHANICS SUMMARY
1. Fund Management Company HQ
A firm like the Bank HQ, with internal units such as Portfolio Management, Research, Marketing, Client Relations, and Compliance.
2. Launch Open-End Funds by Type
Players can launch fund types such as Domestic Equity, Global Equity, Bond, Balanced, and Money Market funds. Later additions could include Index and Sector funds.
The player sets the expense ratio and front load, capped per fund type, and commits locked-up seed capital.
3. NAV and Fund Fees
NAV per unit equals fund assets divided by units outstanding. Investors subscribe and redeem at NAV. Management fees accrue monthly from fund assets to the company.
4. Demand Engine
Retail inflows draw from the existing Public Investors' Money pool. Demand is driven by trailing returns, star ratings, brand and marketing, and fees.
Institutions such as banks, insurers, and corporations buy highly rated bond and money market funds. AI fund companies can also buy rival funds as fund-of-funds.
5. Star Ratings
Funds receive 1 to 5 star ratings quarterly, based on risk-adjusted return percentile versus peers. New funds are unrated for 12 months. Ratings drive fund flows.
6. Redemption Runs
Weak 3-month returns trigger outflows that scale with how "hot" recent inflows were. Cash buffers, emergency gates with reputation damage, and bank credit lines are the main defenses.
7. Fund Manager Talent
Players can hire experts, similar to COO or CTO roles, with equity, fixed-income and global expertise that adds bounded alpha. Star managers can also be poached.
8. Synergies
Banks can distribute funds through their branch networks for a fee, creating a new income line for banks. Insurers can allocate float to bond funds.
ANTI-EXPLOIT REGULATION
This is essential because funds invest other people's money.
1. No Self-Dealing
A fund cannot buy securities of its own corporation or affiliates.
2. Ownership Limit
Funds may own a maximum of 10 percent of any company, and fund-held shares give the manager no takeover or board rights.
3. Concentration Limit
A maximum of 10 percent of fund assets may be invested in one security.
4. Fee and Redemption Rules
Fee caps apply per fund type. Seed capital is locked for 3 years. Subscriptions and redemptions always execute at computed NAV.
UI ADDITIONS
1. Fund Market Screen
A Fund Market screen, placed next to the stock and bond markets, listing all funds with NAV, returns, ratings and fees. This is where every actor shops for funds.
2. Fund Detail Report
The fund detail report should include a NAV chart, AUM and flow charts, holdings, and unit-holder mix.
3. Portfolio Controls
A portfolio mandate editor can be included for auto-managed funds, along with manual trading from fund assets.
SUGGESTED GAME SETTINGS
1. Feature on or off toggle
2. AI tendency to found fund companies, similar to AIINSURT
3. Retail adoption modifier
4. Redemption sensitivity modifier
5. Hooks into the Banking and Finance difficulty setting
I believe this would give the Banking and Finance DLC a major second act and give players a financial-empire path that the game's simulation depth uniquely deserves.
I would be glad to elaborate on any part of this design, including flow formulas and balancing suggestions. I have a full design document and can post more details if there is interest.
Thank you for considering it, and thank you for continuing to develop the deepest business simulation ever made.
I would like to propose a Mutual Funds feature, ideally as an extension of the Banking and Finance DLC, since roughly 70 percent of the systems it needs already exist in the game: the stock market, the Global Stock Market, the bond market, including corporate, municipal and sovereign bonds, banks, insurance companies, and the Public Investors' Money pool from Realistic Money Supply.
THE CONCEPT
Let players found a Fund Management Company, a new firm type that creates and sells mutual funds to the public and to institutions, invests the pooled money across local stocks, global stocks and bonds, and earns management fees on assets under management, or AUM.
Banks, insurance companies, AI persons, AI corporations, and rival fund companies can all buy fund units. The player gets rich by growing AUM and performing well, not by spending the fund's money. The fund's assets belong to its investors. Only the fee stream belongs to the manager.
WHY THIS WOULD BE GREAT GAMEPLAY
1. A genuinely new business model: tiny capital needs, scalable fee income, but revenue collapses if performance fails. Nothing else in the game plays like it.
2. It deepens the Banking DLC instead of sitting beside it. Funds and banks would compete for the same household savings. Raising deposit rates drains fund inflows, and vice versa.
3. Performance pressure creates real drama. Poor returns trigger redemption runs, forcing fire sales into falling markets, which is the same feedback loop that makes real fund management stressful.
CORE MECHANICS SUMMARY
1. Fund Management Company HQ
A firm like the Bank HQ, with internal units such as Portfolio Management, Research, Marketing, Client Relations, and Compliance.
2. Launch Open-End Funds by Type
Players can launch fund types such as Domestic Equity, Global Equity, Bond, Balanced, and Money Market funds. Later additions could include Index and Sector funds.
The player sets the expense ratio and front load, capped per fund type, and commits locked-up seed capital.
3. NAV and Fund Fees
NAV per unit equals fund assets divided by units outstanding. Investors subscribe and redeem at NAV. Management fees accrue monthly from fund assets to the company.
4. Demand Engine
Retail inflows draw from the existing Public Investors' Money pool. Demand is driven by trailing returns, star ratings, brand and marketing, and fees.
Institutions such as banks, insurers, and corporations buy highly rated bond and money market funds. AI fund companies can also buy rival funds as fund-of-funds.
5. Star Ratings
Funds receive 1 to 5 star ratings quarterly, based on risk-adjusted return percentile versus peers. New funds are unrated for 12 months. Ratings drive fund flows.
6. Redemption Runs
Weak 3-month returns trigger outflows that scale with how "hot" recent inflows were. Cash buffers, emergency gates with reputation damage, and bank credit lines are the main defenses.
7. Fund Manager Talent
Players can hire experts, similar to COO or CTO roles, with equity, fixed-income and global expertise that adds bounded alpha. Star managers can also be poached.
8. Synergies
Banks can distribute funds through their branch networks for a fee, creating a new income line for banks. Insurers can allocate float to bond funds.
ANTI-EXPLOIT REGULATION
This is essential because funds invest other people's money.
1. No Self-Dealing
A fund cannot buy securities of its own corporation or affiliates.
2. Ownership Limit
Funds may own a maximum of 10 percent of any company, and fund-held shares give the manager no takeover or board rights.
3. Concentration Limit
A maximum of 10 percent of fund assets may be invested in one security.
4. Fee and Redemption Rules
Fee caps apply per fund type. Seed capital is locked for 3 years. Subscriptions and redemptions always execute at computed NAV.
UI ADDITIONS
1. Fund Market Screen
A Fund Market screen, placed next to the stock and bond markets, listing all funds with NAV, returns, ratings and fees. This is where every actor shops for funds.
2. Fund Detail Report
The fund detail report should include a NAV chart, AUM and flow charts, holdings, and unit-holder mix.
3. Portfolio Controls
A portfolio mandate editor can be included for auto-managed funds, along with manual trading from fund assets.
SUGGESTED GAME SETTINGS
1. Feature on or off toggle
2. AI tendency to found fund companies, similar to AIINSURT
3. Retail adoption modifier
4. Redemption sensitivity modifier
5. Hooks into the Banking and Finance difficulty setting
I believe this would give the Banking and Finance DLC a major second act and give players a financial-empire path that the game's simulation depth uniquely deserves.
I would be glad to elaborate on any part of this design, including flow formulas and balancing suggestions. I have a full design document and can post more details if there is interest.
Thank you for considering it, and thank you for continuing to develop the deepest business simulation ever made.