Don Cassidy, one of the best-known analysts in the mutual fund industry, is leaving research outfit Lipper to set up his own not-for-profit organization. Cassidy has been at Lipper for 16 years.

Cassidy is officially retiring from Lipper, and is in the stages of incorporating the Retirement Investing Institute. The purpose of the RII is to educate U.S. adults to become investors or, if they already invest, to be better investors. "Investing can be a scary process unless you're in the industry," said Cassidy.

The RII will work with universities, academics, authors and industry practitioners to host Saturday classes that will offer various modules such as the basics of mutual funds and the psychology of investments. Cassidy hopes that the classes will be free, though some fee may be required to break even, depending on the success of fund raising efforts. The RII will also offer investor educational services to employers. Though the classes will start in Denver, Cassidy hopes the effort will become nationwide very quickly.

Cassidy said he will continue working with Lipper, though only on a project-by-project basis, when asked. "It won't be anything that requires 50 or 60 hours a week," he said.