how much does it cost to invest in a mutual fund?
349626
However much money you want to put into it.  A lot of times it depends on which company (Edward Jones, Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. etc.) you want to start it with and if you already have accounts w/these companies or not.  If you get a mutual fund through a company and you have a full-service one, then you will have to pay fees/commissions but its not much (like 5%) and its TOTALLY worth it b/c then you don't have to worry about, manage it, or diversify it.  And once you have the mutual fund, it will always grow unless there is a recession in the economy or a big stock market decrease.
716687
There are two types of mutual funds.  Front end load mutual funds and no load mutual funds.  The load mutual funds have about a 5.75% sales charge added to the fund.  If you buy funds through a bank, chances are excellent they will suggest a load mutual fund because that generates income for them.  No load mutual funds do not contain a sales charge.  Generally they are sold directly by mutual fund companies and through many on line stock brokers.\n\nJust because a fund has a load does not necessarily mean that it is a bad investment.  Some of those funds have performed excellently and generally they have a lower expense ratios.  Enough lower that over a five year period you will make up the difference in the front end load.  \n\nThere are also closed end funds that are traded like stocks. Many Index funds fall into that category.  Most banks will be happy to sell you these funds because they receive a brokerage commission just like when they sell stocks. \n\nFund companies such as Royce,  Fidelity, Vanguard, and most others have internet sites where you can read about the funds they offer, down load the application forms and then order the funds.  You can then afterwards log onto their sites, check on how your funds are doing and even redeem your shares. \n\nYahoo finance and Forbes both offer mutual fund screening tools to help you find good funds.  Those sites however do not evaluate closed end funds.  You have to go to special internet sites to find out information about those.  Don't know why?
69870
Well, like stocks, there are lots of them and not all of them are good investments.\n\nThe costs associated with mutual funds can still be high, even though they are "no-load" stocks (in other words there are still management fees that may be excessive).\n\nA disadvantage of all mutual funds, but which may be an issue with no-loads because people think there is "no-cost" to get into them, is that people may overdiversify (buy too many different kinds of mutual funds).\n\nSome mutual funds, although not restricted to no-loads, may put a lot of your investment aside as "cash equivalents" to allow for liquidity, which means that you could have more of your money not working for you in an investment.
862983
Generally speaking, most back end loaded mutual funds do not pay a sales charge on the appreciated portion of you shares, only on the original $10,000 purchase.\n\nMost front-end funds will charge you a 5.75% sales charge on dollar amounts under either $25,000 or $50,000 (each company is a little different).\n\nJust because you don't pay a sales charge when you buy back end loaded funds doesn't mean they are any cheaper.  They usually have higher internal costs (approximately double the front-end loaded shares).  If you do get charged a back end load, on most equity mutual funds it's 5 or 4%.\n\nRemember, most open-ended, stock based mutual funds are considered long-term investments and really shouldn't be used for a 3 month time horizon.\n\nIf you do go with ETFs (or closed end, exchange traded funds), you will definitley pay a sales charge or commission when trying to take profits.
967463
I have BofA.  You don't pay a trading fee for self-directed investments as long as you have $25K in checking/savings/CD accounts with them.  There are no account maintenance fees either.
41962
Go to bookstore and get Mutual Funds for Dummies or Investing for Dummies.  They will have easy to understand concept and descriptions.  More information is better when it comes to investing.  Take your time.  Start saving money now and get into the habit.  Put it into a savings account now while you are learning about mutual funds.  When you feel ready, then you already have some money saved up.
228452
Invest $500 a month in a diversified stock mutual fund (I like Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund). Wait ~30 years and you will have around a million dollars. Most people would hedge their bets by putting some money in bonds, in which case it will take longer. This assumes you have the stomach to handle the volatility of the stock market.
436201
A Mutual Fund is a collective fund pooled by an enterprise from the investors having mutual interest. The fund collections shall be invested by the Fund manager in the stocks traded on the exchange. The type & mode of investment made by the Fund Manager shall be made specific to the investors at the time of collecting the amount from them. There are lot of mutual funds availble in the market like Morgan Stanley ... etc.,. The mutual funds are governed by laws of the respective country.
824382
I believe most mutual funds require $2500 initial investment, so you may be limited in your choice.  I would get a copy of Money  magazine and look at their listings of mutual funds to see which ones allow you to start with $1000.  \nThere will be statistics on all of the funds showing you which ones are doing the best for 1,5, and 10 year periods.\nIf it is for long term investment, I would recommend an S&P 500 index fund like Vanguard index 500, or a growth and income fund.  If you want to gamble  a little for higher returns, you \ncould try an aggressive growth fund.  A good friend of mine has done well with CGM focus fund.\nLook for no-load funds, and ones with the smallest maintainance fees.  These fees don't sound too important but over many years of compounding they are very important.\nPaying a load up front has never been shown to increase your returns on the average (contrary to what some brokers will try to tell you), so don't.\nAnd if you are young, stay away from bond funds; stock funds are much better.  Some of the better companies are Strong, Janus , Fidelity and Vanguard.\nGood luck!
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.
821290
I assume you mean mutual funds.  \n\nThere are a lot of types.  They all have the same basic function--to pool individual investors' moneys and invest those moneys for the individuals hopefully with a decent return.\n\n1 index funds.  These are funds that attempt to match the returns of particular indexes. They are unmanaged and have very low expenses.  They are relatively new.  There are maybe 200 to 400 different index funds indexing everything one can imagine from the price of gold to the S&P 500. Many but not all are traded like stocks.\n\n2. managed equity funds.  These invest in stocks.  There are many different types of these.  Some invest in growth stocks, some in small cap stocks, some in value stocks, some in foreign stocks and everything else for that matter.  Many of these can be purchased directly from mutual fund companies.  They come in three different types. 1. ones with front end loads normally 7.75%. 2. ones with no front end loads. 3. closed end funds that are traded like stocks.  \n\n3.  managed bond funds.  These invest in bonds.  Some in taxable bonds and some in tax free bonds. \n\n4. Unit trusts.  These buy a pool of bonds and do not manage them.  They have very low fees.
1184850
The simple case for index funds is part theory, part practice, and part arithmetic. Theory says that since (a) gross returns earned by investors as a group must equal the gross returns earned by the total stock market, (b) net returns - after advisory fees and other investment expenses - earned by investors as a group must fall short of the returns of the market by the amount of those costs.\n\nPractice confirms the theory. Returns earned by the average equity mutual fund in the past have typically fallen short of the returns on appropriate stock market indexes by an amount approximately equal to the operating expenses and transaction costs incurred by the funds. Over the past 25 years, the average fund has earned annual returns averaging 11.6% compared to a return of 13.1% for the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index, a shortfall of 1.5 percentage points per year. In fact, only 32% of actively managed equity funds have outpaced this unmanaged index, and no one has ever suggested a methodology by which those few winners could have been selected in advance.\n\nAnd simple arithmetic makes it clear that this difference is critically important. Over 25 years, a $10,000 investment in the Index would have risen in value to $217,100, compared to $155,500 in the average fund. This shortfall - $61,600 - is clearly enormous. For over time, the miracle of compounding changes a difference in degree in annual return to a difference in kind in capital accumulation. Costs matter. That sums up the simple case for index funds.
1023575
If its a stock - it depends on how much the stock cost.  Say its a $2 per share.  You should buy in 100 share lot minimum so that's $200 plus $10 co mission\n\n\nGrand total:$210.  Owning part of the Capitalist system: Priceless.\n\n\nIf you are looking at mutual finds, I think there are some that have a $300 minimum.  Check a few companies such as Vanguard and Fidelity.
517192
Buy a diversified series of mutual funds. Individual stocks are just way too risky in most cases, especially for novice investors, even if they look like a sure thing.  How are Enron and Worldcom doing right now?\n\nMake sure you hit all the assets classes, like Large cap stocks, small/mid cap stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, government debt, corporate debt, hi-yield debt, foreign debt, emerging markets debt, real estate, commodities, and precious metals. That's 12 categories right there, so let's say you get started with with $1200, you're talking about $100 each. \n\nThen sit back and rebalance each year, back to your original percentages. This is called asset allocation. The thinking being, what's BEEN hot is more than likely not going to STAY hot. All markets, after all, are cyclical.  This is why people who invest their 401(k) by just putting in whatever's had the most recent best numbers never get anywhere--they're investig in something that DID will and IS probably NOT doing well.\n\nThis sort of portfolio should average 8-12% per year, so just split the difference and say 10%. Will it do 10% EVERY year? Of course not. I'd be surprised if it ever did EXACTLY 10%. That's an annual average. With that average, your money should double roughly every 7 years. \nSo, in 7 years you should have about $2,000\nin 14 years you should have about $4,000\nin 21 years you should have about $8,000\nin 28 years you should have about $16,000\nin 35 years you should have about $32,000\nin 42 years you should have about $64,000\nin 49 years you should have about $128,000\nin 56 years you should have about $256,000\nin 63 years you should have about $512,000\nin 70 years you should have about $1,024,000!\n\nOf course, if you keep adding money in, say $100 a month, you'll become a millionaire MUCH sooner. The key is discipline, and sticking in when markets are up OR down. Don't try to time the market--you'll NEVER get it right.\n\nHere's a handy formula:\n\n$100/month x 12% retutn x 20 years = $100,000.  \n\nSo if you invest $300 a month, you can expect to have $300,000 or so in 20 years, depending on what return you get.  And remember, even if you stop there, that money itself will double again in 7-10 years, depending.  Then double again.  Then double again.  You get the idea.\n\nIn short, you can make a HELL of a lot of money, with a small output on your part, if you do it right, and are patient.\n\nOh, and if you qualify, and do this all in a Roth IRA? Then every penny will be 100% TAX-FREE. That's a deal that's too good to pass up. That's why I tell all my under-30 clients--if you make under $90,000, and therefore qualify to do a Roth, you'd be a fool not to. Just having the power of youth (and therefore time) on your side is such an advantage, to squander it would be such a waste!\n\nHope this helps!\n--J.\n\nP.S. The previous answerer's advice about contacting Edward Jones is gold.  I would go to their website at www.edwardjones.com, enter your zip code, and find the closest office to you.  Chances are there's one within 10 miles.  They have 10,000 office in the US, UK, and Canada.  And they will take care of you right if you decide you don't want to go it alone.
584364
You didn't say how large the overall portfolio is, which is a key issue, but I can understand not wanting to feature your entire financial life on a public message board.  In general, mutual funds are ideal for people with small portfolios, say under $25000, because it allows them to get diversification that they couldn't afford any other way.  Once you get past $50,000, or $100,000, mutual funds become much less attractive.  At those levels, there are independent financial advisors who could handle your portfolio for less than you'd pay a mutual fund in fees, and  provide much more individualized service. (We'd be happy to talk to you if you're interested) Plus, you'd have a large enough portfolio that you're effectively able to diversify on your own, without the need of mutual funds.\n\nIn general, my impression of mutual funds is that they're all pretty average.  I almost would feel silly commenting on 'good' or 'bad' funds, because they are normally all so close together that it's not incredibly relevant.  Further, their investment strategies often change overnight, and you have little way of knowing until after the fact, so really, your guess is as good as mine.  Basically, you can look at their past results (over the long-term, not just the past year) to get an impression of their management ability, but that doesn't give you any true indication of the future, so it's largely estimation.\n\nStocks, on the other hand, can be judged more concretely.  Of course, we can never know for sure with them either, but at least we have something concrete to look at.  So:\n\nI'm a big fan of IACI.  The future looks strong, and the assets are valuable.  Definitely hold on to this one for a while.\n\nMSFT: Boring!  I dunno what's up with Microsoft, but it's been among the most uninteresting stocks for at at least the last half dozen years.  I suspect it's a size issue.  There comes a point where it's difficult to grow without cannibilizing your own sales on another product.\n\nHLT: Not sure what the attraction is here.  If you've held this for a while, perhaps you've gotten a nice profit already.  Can't say if it's at its end yet, but it's definitely not something that I'd be buying right now.\n\nECA & BHP: Resource stocks like these are definitely popular right now, with good reason.  I think there's still more upside here, but these are definitely not long-term plays.  It's hard to say exactly when you ought to sell this type of stock.  This is just a situation where you have to observe the world and the industry on a consistent basis, and make the assessment over and over.  But, for now, I'd say hold on.\n\nYou didn't ask for stock recommendations, but if you're interested, I'm a big fan of MI and TMX right now.\n\nBest of luck to you.\n\nP.S.  I've included a link to a story that disagrees with me on Microsoft.  Who knows...maybe there's some value there after all.  But I'm still not convinced.
318123
You can find a lot of past performance of mutual funds on this web site.     http://www.micropal.com/\nalthough past return is no guarantee of future results - still, it could be used as an estimate.\n\nIf you want to calculate what an investment of $37,940 would add up to if it grew at 5% per year, just type this formula into an excel sheet:\n  =FV(0.05,30,,-37940)\nA whopping $163,974!
325356
Here is what I suggest. Go to Yahoo mutual fund screen. And imput the parameters of the type of fund you wish to consider and see what pops up. \n\nHere is the link.\n\nThe second link is one of the screens I ran. It shows funds that are no load, with low initial investment that are ranked at least 4 star by Morningstar and are in the top 30% for one year performance.