what are the advantages to invest in mutuval funds?
599603
ADVANTAGES\n\nWhat are the key advantages of mutual fund investing?\n\nDiversification\n\nUsing mutual funds can help an investor diversify their portfolio with a minimum investment.  When investing in a single fund, an investor  is actually investing in numerous securities.  Spreading your investment across a range of securities can help to reduce risk.  A stock mutual fund, for example, invests in many stocks - hundreds or even thousands.  This minimizes the risk attributed to a concentrated position.  If a few securities in the mutual fund lose value or become worthless, the loss maybe offset by other securities that appreciate in value.  Further diversification can be achieved by investing in multiple funds which invest in different sectors or categories.  This helps to reduce the risk associated with a specific industry or category.  Diversification may help to reduce risk but will never completely eliminate it.  It is possible to lose all or part of your investment.\n\n Professional Management:\n\nMutual funds are managed and supervised by investment professionals.  As per the stated objectives set forth in the prospectus, along with prevailing market conditions and other factors, the mutual fund manager will decide when to buy or sell securities.  This eliminates the investor of the difficult task of trying to time the market.  Furthermore, mutual funds can eliminate the cost an investor would incur when proper due diligence is given to researching securities.  This cost of managing numerous securities is dispersed among all the investors according to the amount of shares they own with a fraction of each dollar invested used to cover the expenses of the fund.  What does this mean?  Fund managers have more money to research more securities more in depth than the average investor.  \n\nConvenience:\n\nWith most mutual funds, buying and selling shares, changing distribution options, and obtaining information can be accomplished conveniently by telephone, by mail, or online.\n\nAlthough a fund's shareholder is relieved of the day-to-day tasks involved in researching, buying, and selling securities, an investor will still need to evaluate a mutual fund based on investment goals and risk tolerance before making a purchase decision.  Investors should always read the prospectus carefully before investing in any mutual fund.\n\nLiquidity:\n\nMutual fund shares are liquid and orders to buy or sell are placed during market hours.  However, orders are not executed until the close of business when the NAV (Net Average Value) of the fund can be determined.  Fees or commissions may or may not be applicable.  Fees and commissions are determined by the specific fund and the institution that executes the order.\n\nMinimum Initial Investment:\n\nMost funds have a minimum initial purchase of $2,500 but some are as low as $1,000.  If you purchase a mutual fund in an IRA, the minimum initial purchase requirement tends to be lower.  You can buy some funds for as little as $50 per month if you agree to dollar-cost average, or invest a certain dollar amount each month or quarter.\n\n \n\nDISADVANTAGES \n\nRisks and Costs:\n\nChanging market conditions can create fluctuations in the value of a mutual fund investment.\n\nThere are fees and expenses associated with investing in mutual funds that do not usually occur when purchasing individual securities directly.\n\nAs with any type of investment, there are drawbacks associated with mutual funds. \n\nNo Guarantees.  The value of your mutual fund investment, unlike a bank deposit, could fall and be worth less than the principle initially invested. And, while a money market fund seeks a stable share price, its yield fluctuates, unlike a certificate of deposit. In addition, mutual funds are not insured or guaranteed by an agency of the U.S. government.  Bond funds, unlike purchasing a bond directly, will not re-pay the principle at a set point in time. \n\nThe Diversification "Penalty."
1104813
If the interest is about the same between the guaranteed and un-guaranteed investments, I would without question take the guaranteed option.  Even if the interest is slightly higher in the unguaranteed option, having that security is worth the reduction in the interest rate.
673708
If you are talking about municipal bond funds, I think Vanguard has some of the best.  In bond funds, low fees are very important, and Vanguard has some of the lowest.
288128
I suggest stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.\n\nDrop me a line if you need more detailed information.
800198
give me all your money and ill help you...ha ok ok i wont joke...\n\nhonestly...it depends on how you want to weigh your options theres MANY ways to invest... And the more you can gain in an investment the more of a risk there is.  If you want a low to zero risk investment then you could simply but it savings or bonds...and save with compound interest.  (putting the interest earned back into the same account.)  If you definetely want to try stocks out which there's an adequate risk rate then you first need to know the difference.  There's common stocks and there's preferred stocks.  Common stocks are the most ...well..common stocks there are...Over the long term, common stock, by means of capital growth, yields higher returns than almost every other investment. This higher return comes at a cost since common stocks entail the most risk. If a company goes bankrupt and liquidates, the common shareholders will not receive money until the creditors, bondholders and preferred shareholders are paid.   You could also invest in prefered stocks.. With preferred shares, investors are usually guaranteed a fixed dividend forever. This is different than common stock, which has variable dividends that are never guaranteed. Another advantage is that in the event of liquidation, preferred shareholders are paid off before the common shareholder...That's about all i'll go into here...I know pretty much all the rest but should help...Just find a company you have faith in and go from there.
493353
Systematic Investment plan is like Dollar Cost Averaging.\nYou invest the exact same amount each month, no matter what the price per share of a mutual fund is.\n\nFinding value of your portfolio in the future is not possible. However, you can find a hypothetical value. All you need right now is a hypothetical interest rate (say around 10%) and see what you can get in 3 years.\n\nI would invest in aggressive growth funds.. particularly Legg Mason Partners Aggressive Growth Fund (formerly known as Smith Barney Aggressive Growth).
970094
The best returns come with the higher risk.   Mutual funds are usually poorer returns than you get from picking the rights stocks because someone is taking a portion of your profits to supposedly reduce your risk.  You pay for returns in risk to your investment (for stocks etc) or in frustration cost (rentals,  owning your own store etc).  \n\nRental property is my preference,  as long as your careful and check things out well (ie actually checking for places to rent to confirm comparable rental rates etc).  Over the long term it's one of the best lower risk investments you can get, but it does take your time and effort.
289865
A sector index fund is a better investment because you are investing in many companies at once; the fate of your returns do not lie in the outcome of a single company.
491432
In most countries when you sell an investment, you have to pay taxes on the profits immediately, even if you sold the investment to reinvest in something else.\n\nTo avoid this inconvenience banks and other investment firms invented the "fund of funds". The manager of this type of fund determines his own strategy of arbitrage and reinvestment within a number of mutual funds. For the buyer of the fund of funds the advantage is that his reinvested money did not leave the fund of funds, and he doesn't have to pay taxes.\n\nThe advantage for the bank is that the fund family used by the manager is often that of the bank, which means that the bank earns twice the manager fee, once on each fund.  \n\nThe details depend on the country and its tax rules.\n\nBeing a fund of funds is one of the investment strategies used by hedge funds as it permits arbitrage between stocks, bonds, commodities according to the model the manager uses\nbut without him being encumbered by the burden of having to choose individual investments.
811454
Reliance can be a good option because the fund liquidity is maximum as they provide you ATM cum Debit card, from where you can get your money refunded anytime.
1008390
while investing always aim for long term, and by opting dividend reinvestment mode you will be having more number of units in you name and there by more chances of dividends etc., in future., btw dividends are exempt from income tax
1018690
Magnum is a little bit risky with the contrarian style. I might lean towards Reliance, or HDFC out of the ones that you have named. Best in general is hard to define. The best fund for you will be the one that best matches your risk tolerance and your time frame for investing.\n\n\nHDFC:\nWITH absolute returns of around 90 per cent over the past year, the HDFC Prudence Fund remains the top choice among the balanced funds available to the investor. \n\nIts performance in 2003 reinforces the case for investing in a fund based on its track record across two or three market cycles. The NAV of the fund's Growth Plan has quadrupled since the end of 1998, and now stands at Rs 45.71 . \n\nSuitability: Investors with an appetite for risk, who are looking to build equity exposures now, should consider routing their exposures through the HDFC Prudence Fund. Given the sharp run-up in equity market levels, any investment made now in an equity-oriented fund, is likely to carry a big dose of downside risk. \n\nBut as a balanced fund with a near-40 per cent exposure to debt or debt equivalents, the HDFC Prudence Fund may provide better downside protection than a pure equity fund, while allowing you to participate in any further appreciation in equity values. \n\nPerformance: With a 90 per cent return over the past one year, the fund outperformed the Crisil Balanced Fund Index, its benchmark, by a wide margin. Though only 60-65 per cent of the fund's assets are invested in equities, the fund has managed to outpace a good number of pure equity funds, both over the past one year and over a five-year time-frame. \n\nHDFC Prudence Fund adopts a flexible asset allocation pattern; both its equity and debt exposures can swing between 40 and 60 per cent of its assets. But in practice, the fund has tended to stick with a particular asset allocation pattern for two to three years, based on its view of the equity and debt markets. \n\nFor the past couple of years, the fund has been allocating 60-65 per cent of its portfolio to equities and the rest to debt and money market instruments. In 2003, the fund appears to have periodically rebalanced its equity portfolio to keep equity in the 60-65 per cent range. \n\nBetween June and December 2003, despite the sharp appreciation in equity values and in the NAV, the equity exposure has actually fallen from 62.2 per cent to 60.6 per cent. \n\n\n\nReliance Vision:\nAn Indian fund, Reliance Vision, was the second best performing fund globally in the April-June quarter, according to Lipper Asia Ltd, which tracks approximately 80,000 funds worldwide. \n\nThe fund operated by Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd gained 34.86 per cent last quarter, second only to Aberdeen Select Indonesian Equity Fund, managed by Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd, which rose 34.95 per cent. \n\nMagnum Contra:\n\nA normal diversified equity fund is one that invests in the stocks of various companies in different sectors. Magnum Contra does the same thing.\n\nHowever, as the name suggests, it will follow a contrarian view to investing and takes contrarian bets on stocks. This means the fund manager will deliberately bypass the popular stocks that everyone else is chasing. Instead, s/he will pick stocks that have the potential to appreciate (rise in price over time) but are undervalued and out of favour with other investors.\n\nThe fund manager will focus on stocks that have strong fundamentals but are trading at a significant discount to their intrinsic value. In layman's terms, this refers to a stock whose share price is, say, Rs 15 right now but has the potential to be Rs 100 over a period of time. Yet, it does not feature in the 'favourite list' of other stock pickers. \n\nIn other words, the fund managers of such funds will invest in companies that are out of fashion, yet sound. These will be stocks that are strong on fundamentals, but whose value is not yet recognised by the market. To put it very simply, it is
1119494
Just starting out, a mutul fund is a good approach. Some you can buy from brokers like Fidelity or TD Ameritrade.  Others you need to buy directly from the mutual fund company.  There are some good funds but most are not so you must do your research.  To begin with search for funds that have a good long term record and are invested mostly in stocks.  Windsor fund is one offered by Vanguard although its record over the last 5 years has not been too good.  The best performing funds over the last 5 years have been gold funds, oil funds, and foreign market funds.  Your guess is as good as mine as to whether that will continue but China looks rather more enticing than the U S for sure.
439706
I like Legg Mason Partners Funds (formerly called Smith Barney). I invest in LMP Aggressive Growth, LMP Fundamental Value, and LMP Appreciation Fund. These are known as "3 Fund Approach." Why? Just like you don't want to invest all your money into one stock, you don't want to invest your money all in one mutual fund (even though it invests 25 to 300 different companies). How you want to diversify your money is up to you, but I put about 33% into all.\n\nMy dealer is PFS Investments and they don't charge any fees to use their services. You can buy or redeem your shares online. You can check the value of your portfolio anytime online too. Oh yeah, make sure the agent is properly licensed and ask about the complimentary financial need analysis (a very useful financial tool).\n\nAnyway, no matter how you invest, don't pull out if the stock market crashes because you know stock market will always rebound (base on past performance).
844260
It depends what you invest in. US t-bonds will give you about 5%, German bonds 8%, and Brazil 12.5% or so (no capital gains taxes in Brazil either!). Of course, as you can guess, though, the higher the reward, the higher the risk.
100636
It is a "fund-of-funds" set up to own 80% stocks and 20% bonds.  That allocation is more diversified than most funds out there, and diversification in long term investing is generally a good thing.  That said, if you are young and not risk-averse, you could invest in more aggressive funds, namely more stock funds, small cap, mid cap, and international funds, and probably do better than this fund will LONG TERM.\n\nTalk to a financial advisor you trust.\n\nGood luck!
851405
Money market.\n\nHighly liquid (you can draw on it whenever you want).\nNo penalties for withdrawal (like in CD or Money Market Funds)\nGood yield (you get about 4.50% at ING, which is only about a 60 basis point sacrifice for the liquidity you are looking for).\nNo risk (e.g. FDIC insured, no volatility in price)\n\nAddendum: Since liquidity is a huge part of what you need, laddering CDs is not a good idea since you are guaranteed to forfeit interest income that is greater than the yield pickup from investing in CDs compared to money market. Also, careful about money market funds - there is a penalty for withdrawing money early as Vanguard discourages "trading".  Also, I wouldn't do munis since you "only" have $100k.  Not to belittle this amount (as it is a sizeable amount), but it hints that you are not in a tax bracket high enough to make the lower yield in munis worthwhile.