what is meant mutual funds?
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A mutual fund is simply a financial intermediary that allows a group of investors to pool their money together with a predetermined investment objective. The mutual fund will have a fund manager who is responsible for investing the pooled money into specific securities (usually stocks or bonds). When you invest in a mutual fund, you are buying shares (or portions) of the mutual fund and become a shareholder of the fund. \n\nMutual funds are one of the best investments ever created because they are very cost efficient and very easy to invest in (you don't have to figure out which stocks or bonds to buy). \n\nBy pooling money together in a mutual fund, investors can purchase stocks or bonds with much lower trading costs than if they tried to do it on their own. But the biggest advantage to mutual funds is diversification.
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No, it's nothing like a mutual fund. The Federal Funds Rate (as opposed to the "discount rate") is the Federal rate that banks charge other banks for overnight loans.\n\nThe "discount rate" is the rate Federal Reserve banks charge other banks for overnight loans.
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Definition\n\nFinancing provided by an institution, as opposed to retail investors.
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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?
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A mutual fund is a corporation operating under the Investment Company Act of 1940 as an open end investment company.  It also complies with certain restrictions under the Internal Revenue Code.\n\nThe owners of the corporation are prorata owners of a pool of investments.  The Investment Company Act, and to some extent the Internal Revenue Code, restrict what assets can be included.  However, these restrictions are mostly minimal and in some instances optional if disclosed properly.\n\nMutual funds are unique in that their shares are both continually offered and continually redeemed.  What makes this different from an ordinary company is that the company issues as many shares as the public wants and will redeem them on demand (there are restrictions on both of these statements but they don't usually apply).  If you had wanted to buy shares in IBM, you would have to buy them from an existing shareholder.  If you wanted to buy shares in a mutual fund, the company will produce as many as you are willing to buy and will sell fractional shares as well.  Likewise, if you wanted to sell shares in IBM, you would take them to the market to find a buyer.  The mutual fund itself will buy back all shares at the next valuation price (usually that means an order today will not occur until tomorrow).\n\nThe funds self-restrict their investments to allow shareholders to anticipate what is likely to occur.
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It depends on the share class. There are A, B and C shares to almost every mutual fund. Each have a different fee structure.\n\nThis link below will help you...
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"A mutual fund is an investment company that pools the savings of many individual investors who share a common financial goal. These investors buy shares of a particular mutual fund that has a defined investment objectives and investment strategies. The price of a mutual fund share is its net asset (total assets less total liabilities) divided by the number of shares outstanding. This figure computed and published daily, is the mutual fund’s Net Asset Value Per Share (NAVPS).\n\nA fund manager invests the resulting asset base in various securities. These securities could range from shares of stocks to debentures to money market instruments, depending on the fund’s stated objectives and risk profile. The income generated from the fund’s investment activity is distributed proportionately among the shareholders, who may redeem their shares any time.\n\n \n\nThus, mutual funds are ideal for investors who do not have the opportunity to invest in highly diversified, professionally managed, baskets of securities at relatively low costs."\n\nIs my principal secure? Can I lose money?\n\nInvesting in mutual funds, like investing in the stock market, involves risk. Any investment that involves risk means that you may lose some of your original investment. However, a mutual fund does several things to control, and contain that risk. First is having the fund managed by a professional manager. A professional fund manager's primary job is to invest the assets of the fund to get the best return for the shareholders. Second, the investments of a mutual fund are diversified, that is, it is invested in many different stocks, thus insulating the fund from a downturn in any one particular stock. While there are risks in mutual fund investing, the returns can be rewarding. Stock market investing over the long term has proven to provide higher returns than traditional investment vehicles.\n________________________________________________\n\nMutual funds or UITF (Unit Investment Trust Fund if the fund manager is a bank) are I believe good investments however currently, with the increase in interest rates, depreciating peso and the losses in the stock market, the mutual fund share values are going down especially the high risk ones.\n\nMy experience: I reinvested my original mutual fund investment to a higher yielding but riskier equity fund in April 19, 2006. At that time the price per share is PhP1,182.00, since then the share prices has gone down which caused me to become a bit jittery.  As of last Friday, June 16, the share price is PhP1,127.00 which means that if I invested PhP1,000,000 I have lost about PhP50,000 as of Friday.  However prior to April 19, 2006, about a month earlier I have realized a gain of about PhP30,000 on the same amount ( and that is for just a month).\n\n I decided to weather the crises, leave my investment intact and wait for future developments.  Advisers have said these mutual funds are for long term investments. I advise you to study the resources below.
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These 2 sites are pretty good for learning. The beginner will do best investing in mutual funds.
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I personally believe in mutual funds as I have no idea about stock markets. To make good money, invest systematically in well managed diversified equity growth funds. Usually set target for your retirement or kids college tution. I bumped into this blog directly related to India. http://www.dalalstreet.biz/2006/06/sip-art-of-investing-in.html\n\nMaybe this will help.
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They were bought out or merged.  I don't remember who by.  I should, though, I own a mutual fund through them.
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Mutual Funds are public, hedge funds are private.  Both require groups of investors, but hedge funds have few investors.
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Institutional investors are any large companies that invest money on behalf of individuals.  The answer already given is a prime example - Mutual fund managers.  Institutional investors could also be any bank, investing funds of many of their customers.  Hope this helps.
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I own and recommend the following mutual funds without hesitation to anyone, for any situation and length of time. These are the first funds in which I invested, and I've owned them all for 3.5 to 4 years. I have ranked them from highest to lowest 3 year return.\n\nBUFSX\nCAAPX\nMVALX\nDODBX\nOAKBX\n\nI advise you to do your own research and comparisons at Morningstar.com.
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Don't buy mutual funds for the long run. They're not good investments. The problem is the fees that are involved. A mutual fund is a pool of money from a number of investors which is then invested and managed by a fund manager and usually his/her employees. This inherently means you get lower returns than if you bought stocks.\n\nThe reason is, the fund manager and employees all have to get paid, which cuts into your earnings. This makes them less attractive, so they often pay advisers to recommend them. This further cuts into your earnings. As a result, stocks are a much smarter option. The IRA isn't a bad idea, and there are different kinds of IRAs you can invest in.
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Here are some websites that will give you a knowledge of how to invest in mutual funds.
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Vanguard is one of the three largest mutual fund companies in the world (varies between them, Fidelity, and American Funds), they have been around for decades and have nearly $1 Trillion under management.  It is probably the best place to go for someone starting out.  \n\nI used to do consulting for them, while it doesn't seem like the best place to work (low salaries and numbers on the cubicles), they are one of the best mutual fund companies.
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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.