Mutual Funds

Investing in Index Funds

An index fund is a mutual fund that is designed to track the components of a market index. As most investors know, the stock and bond markets have various indexes that serve as benchmarks regarding the performance of the overall market or of a specific sector within the market, like the Dow Jones Industrial [...]

How to Read a Mutual Fund Prospectus

As a mutual fund investor (or a potential mutual fund investor), you may be aware of the valuable information provided in the fund’s prospectus. While the prospectus tends to serve as a selling document for the fund, it provides investors with pertinent information, including the fund’s objectives and strategies, past performance, risk, fees, expenses, [...]

Tax Strategies for Mutual Fund Investing

Some investors make the mistake of selecting mutual funds for investment based solely on advertised returns. The problem with this approach is that many funds pay out all or a portion of earnings to the fund shareholders and these distributions are subject to taxation. This can dramatically reduce your actual return. The [...]

Arguments Against Investing in Traditional Mutual Funds

A mutual fund is simply a pool of money that is invested and managed for the benefit of the funds shareholders. Depending on the objective of the fund, a mutual fund might invest in stocks, bonds or cash or a combination of these in an effort to bring the greatest possible return to its [...]

Investing in Bond Mutual Funds

A bond represents an investment in municipal, government, or corporate debt. Bond mutual funds can be a good choice for conservative investors who, rather than take on high risk in search of superior returns, seek to protect their principal while earning a regular income. Using the money invested by shareholders, professional money managers buy [...]

The Different Types of Mutual Funds

Anyone who is thinking about investing in a mutual fund should become familiar with the different types of mutual funds available and select a fund that is appropriate for their own personal financial situation. Potential investors should also note that there is market risk involved when investing in mutual funds and this risk can [...]

Understanding the Mutual Fund Expense Ratio

The mutual fund expense ratio (or management expense ratio) is a measure of the cost the investment company incurs to operate the fund. It is expressed as an annual percentage of invested assets that the investment company retains to pay for the management and operation of the fund. These operating expenses are deducted from [...]

What Are Mutual Funds?

Mutual funds are professionally managed investments that pool money from investors for investment in stocks, bonds, and other types of securities. A fund manager has the responsibility of trading the pooled money and managing the fund toward its stated objective.

Investors purchase shares from the fund itself or through a broker instead of from other [...]

Investing in No-Load Funds

No-load funds are mutual funds in which you purchase shares without paying a commission or a sales fee. As you probably know, mutual funds are a type of investment in which your money is pooled in with the money of other investments. The fund manager is responsible for buying all stocks (or other investments) [...]