what are the different mutual fund types without withdrawl penalty?
114894
The answer is exchange traded funds. Click the first link below to see these funds.\n\nFor trading strategies using various types of funds, click the second link.
241923
Vanguard.com generally has the near highest rates on a consistent basis. They offer a lot of funds with no load and low cost. They are not the lowest commission structure however. If you trade a lot and don't keep big cash balances I would go elsewhere.\n\nFidelity, tradeking, schwab, etrade, ameritrade, scottrade
1024088
Mutual Fund\nSome or most mutual funds do not allow you to enter or exit except after the close of the trading day. \n\nIn mutual funds, unless you give the orders, it is always "in" the market. Some are limited to how many times you may trade in and out.\n\nYou have no idea whom is managing your money, and have no guarantee from past performance.\n\nA mutual fund will rarely outperform, or match the performance of the S&P or Dow because of their fees.\n\n\nETF's\nIt will take you hours of searching to find a mutual fund cheaper than investing in ETF's. An ETF has no loads or fees except for the commission, like any stock. In general, ETF's are much cheaper to trade.\n\nAn ETF will exactly match the index it is tied to, minus commission cost, which is negligible.\n\nYou can short the market with an ETF (betting on the market going down), which you cannot do with a mutual fund.\n\nThere is no "short-selling rule" like there is with stocks.\n\nI can't imagine why anyone would pay someone you don't know to keep you in the market at all times, when you can do the same thing yourself a lot cheaper, and get out when the markets get risky, like at failures at old all-time highs, like now. \n\nThe best way to do anything yourself is to learn something about it first. You'd be surprised at the thousands of books available on this one subject at your local library.\n\nBut most people spend more time deciding the color of their new car, than they do on a mutual fund advisor, for example. \n\nAre you really wanting to do this yourself, or are you asking about someone who is an expert who can do it for you?\n\nIf you invest in the stock market right now, or just buy into all the ETF's you can afford, it's a crap shoot, like rolling the dice, and the odds are probably not in your favor, whether you have an expert fund manager or not, because mutual funds are always "in" the market.\n\nThey say "Buy and Hold" for the long term is better, but that depends on when you get in, and what your definiton of "long term" is. The phrase "Buy low and sell high" infers that you buy after a decline; decidedly not the case here.\n\nThe Dow has approached all-time highs last seen in Jan 2000 and failed, so if your long-term definition is more than seven years, then you won't mind waiting another seven years for a profit.\n\nIn my opinion, the name of the game is capital preservation. When the risks are high, like right now, you get out of the stock and bond markets and park your cash in a interest bearing money market fund or CD or Treasury Bill.\n\nThis is simply not a good entry point for investors. Be patient, wait a few months, and you'll be able to buy much more stock a lot cheaper, the risks will be lower (even though they will seem higher), and your chance of success greater.\n\nIf you wish to research the “Buy and Hold Strategy” further, or perhaps trade yourself, I recommend two book titles. One is called "Which Is Better, Buy-and-Hold or Market Timing?" The other is "Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Market Timer?" They will give you plenty to think about.
1024015
Try Morningstar.com\n\n\nhttp://www.morningstar.com
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For us little people, I find the best way to invest is with no-load mutual fund accounts.  That way there are no charges or fees either up front or when you eventually sell out.  Also professional managers take care of the investing and do much better than we could ever do.  Second, I find the best way is to make the investment LONG TERM, let it sit no matter and over time I have found my investments always do well.  May I suggest a conservative long time company:  Lord Abbett Affiliated Fund has been excellent for me.
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Morningstar is a nice resource, but remember it is strictly backwards-looking analysis. Kiplingers is OK but is biased towards no loads. (There is a recent study out in the Journal of Financial Planning {October, 2005} that challenges the idea that index funds always outperform actively managed funds.\n\nHere's what I start with when looking for a fund to fill an asset category:\nPerformance relative to peers\nAsset size (Avoid the bloated funds)\nManager Tenure (Great 5 & 10 year numbers mean little if the manager has only been there for 2 years)\nFee structure\n\nThe important thing to remember is to allocate your assets in a manner in line with your time horizon and risk tolerance and DON'T CHASE PERFORMANCE. This years winners are not usually on the top of the heap next year.\n\nIt is never a bad idea to consult a financial planner, either.
49036
If you don't want to invest in individual stocks, then you are usually better of with an index fund, or ETF, than a mutual fund. The majority of mutual funds underperform index funds. (it's quite ironic that picking stocks at random would provide better results than most "professionals".)
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Mutual funds do not "default," it is not a term applied to mutual funds.  However, the mutual fund can invest in something, like a bond, where the issuer defaults.  Then you the investor lose money.
78777
I've been quite successful with the Franklin Templeton family of funds. There are lots of\ndifferent funds to choose based on your risk tolerance.
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In the U S\n\nconsider HD,  ET, BAC, BBT, MSFT, COP, FTO\n\nfor a closed end fund GAM\n\nopen ended mutual funds  PENNX\n\nOutside the U S\n\nCHL, closed end funds TDF and SWZ, SAY, CAJ, NVS\n\nbest bet SAY but India still may have a way to drop. \n\nWhat ever you decide, just take a few nibbles and maintain a healthy cash reserve.
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are you referring to the physical act of transferring the assets or the investment options after the transfer?\n\nanyway, prior answer Vanguard is great for mutual funds. if you are going to trade stocks, they are currently priced higher than most for commissions and they don't clear there own trades. I would look at Schwab/Fidelity/Tradeking/Ameritrade \nfor stocks & fund combinations.
723910
If you are new to market then i would suggest you to go for Mutual fund.\nConcept of mutual funds is simple: You invest the money in mutual fund company, they will invest your money in some other business. They share the returns with you. There are different types of mutual funds- equity, income, debt.....\nYou can choose required one depending on risk taking capacity.\nI suggest you to for SIP- Systematic Investment Plan. Its safer and gets you decent returs.\nYou can logon to http://www.mutualfundsindia.com/ to know more.\nThere are many companies which offer mutual funds like Franklin Templeton, Aditya Birla, Kothari pioneer, SBI, ICICI Prudential...\nAny query you can ask me.\nHappy investing.\n\nCheers,\nJay
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If you are from India, check out the  link below. \n\nBasically, they are a pooling of investors that would rather have someone else do their investing for them.  They give their money to a mutual fund manager and the manager does the investing. For a fee, of course.  There are all types of mutual funds. Ones that invest in growth stocks, ones that invest in bonds, ones that invest in undervalued stocks, ones that invest in foreign stocks, and relatively new, ones that invest in a market average.  The last came about because mutual funds in general--70%--could not get a better return than the market in general. \n\nThat does not mean that all mutual funds are bad. But is does mean that you have to do your home work before buying one.  You can get your money back by just giving them a phone call or sending a request over the internet. Some mutual funds are sold by stock brokers and the funds are held by the broker and you sell them by calling the broker.  Every year at year end the mutual fund distributes the money that they realized on their investments.  That has pluses and minuses.  The plus is that you get the money. The minus is that you have to pay taxes on it. The index funds do not distribute so much because they do not sell their investments so often. So they are an advantage in that respect.
329108
A mutual fund is your best bet.  Remember that "quick" money means risky when it comes to investing.  Better to go slow and not lose your money.
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Morningstar should have most anything you want to know about mutual funds: http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Funds.html\n\nHowever, there's a good reason why they say for mutual funds that past performance doesn't mean much for future returns.  Often times, the biggest gainers in the 1 year category just took huge risks or got lucky, so use some good judgment and try to do some research before investing, rather than just picking the last hot mutual fund, which is a good way to get underperformance.
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http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/mutual_funds?cmsid=P-980434&lvl1=research_strategies&lvl2=mutual_funds\n\nIf this is too specific just go to http://www.schwab.com, click on Research then click on 'Mutual Funds'.
1148271
Depends what type of fund, your age, and what your family's goals are. Probably anything middle-risk mutual fund should be fine so long as you and/or your wife have a steady income.\n\nYou should also check with your investing company if they offer a tax deferred college savings program.