Don't let anyone tell you that it is bad to be the boss. Lawrence Lasser, president of Putnam Investments, a unit of Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC) pocketed more than $23 million. This payoff again makes him the highest compensated executive of a publicly-traded mutual fund company, reports Individual Investor Magazine. The high pay is not the result of his salary (only $1 million), but stems from a whopping bonus of $17 million (this writer is jealous). The rest of his reward came from the exercise of options.

Is Lawrence overpaid? Probably he doesn't think so. The magazine, though, came up with an interesting contrast. T. Rowe Price's (NASDAQ: TROW), George Roche took home a little less than $3 million in 1998. Perhaps that the true difference between load and no-load complexes?

Individuals stepped up their contributions to funds in March, Wall Street Journal reports. The strong month comes on the back of a weak February. Complexes with the strongest flows include Fidelity, which is seeing a pickup in bond and money market funds, and Schwab. T. Rowe Price and Vanguard report little change from February.

The Journal also pats itself on the back for changes in IRA beneficiary practices at Fidelity and Schwab. The changes, which allow inheritors of IRAs the ability to name their own beneficiary, were made after a WSJ article highlighting the issue.

Early days in the fund industry may be a thing of the past. The Nasdaq is mulling over lengthening its trading day to more than 12 hours, The New York Post reports. The possible changes, which may lengthen the trading day on the Nasdaq to 8:30 AM to 9 PM, are a response to the NYSE. Last month the NYSE unveiled its own thoughts on longer hours. In the long run, longer hours at the exchanges will likely increase pressure for a later hour in determining NAVs -- or possibly intraday pricing of funds.

Japan funds are booming once again. The top five funds with the objective of investing in Japan are all up 25% or better, TheStreet.com reports. The article, which examines some of the most successful funds investing in Japan, notes that the largest gains are accruing to mid-cap and small-cap funds in that market.

Despite special fees levied on traders by the major fund supermarkets, investors are still using funds to time the market. In February, Schwab OneSource saw an average of 48,700 fund trades a day. So which funds are being burned by hot money? SmartMoney has compiled a list of the funds that are currently at the top of newsletters' recommended list. Vanguard, Fidelity and Janus lead the list. 

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