Mutual funds are nearly 100 hundred years old! The “pooled funds” investment model enabled investors to purchase a diversified portfolio of financial instruments that would steer money, depending on the fund’s investment goals, into different asset classes. The idea started slowly but eventually took hold, as fund accounts grew and more and more mutual funds popped up on the investment landscape. The first – and oldest – mutual fund in the U.S. was the MFS Massachusetts Investors Trust, which rolled out in 1924 under the management of MFS Investments, out of Boston, Mass. Click the link for additional historical detail and to see a list of 8 other original mutual funds. Note that all still exist today (except for one, but it was merged into another fund, so it’s legacy still lives on too).
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/funds/mutual-funds/oldest-mutual-funds