American Century is making it easier for investors to get into its two families of asset allocation products. The Kansas City fund firm dropped the minimum investments in its LiveStrong Funds and One Choice Portfolios to $500. The move is designed to attract investors with less cash, including younger investors, to the funds.

Donna Byers, senior vice president for Direct Sales and Services, explained that the reduction in the minimum would help people get started with investing. The funds had carried a minimum initial deposit of $2,500 before the move.

The fund firm made a splash with the LiveStrong Funds last year when it signed on then Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong as its spokesperson. Armstrong, who has retired from competition, lost his Tour crown when Floyd Landis won the race last month.

Though it has shifted its focus to intermediary sales over the past decade, American Funds has its roots as a direct-sold fund firm and throught the nineties it was among the fund families offering the lowest minimum investments. The current shift may represent the start of a return to the fund firm's roots.  

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