Mutual Funds Articles

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Fred Peters @ Thursday, 3rd July 2008 @ 5:12 PM

The benefits of investing in mutual funds are diverse and varies based on the type of mutual funds you invest in. If you are looking for an investment vehicle to save many over the long run, mutual fund investing is a great option. Depending on your risk profile and the type of results you are looking for in an investment, there will be a fund out there that meets your needs. For long term investments, they are a great ways to save money. Mutual funds are pooled assets that are managed by... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Adam Khoo @ Tuesday, 30th October 2007 @ 5:29 PM

A mutual fund (called 'unit trust' in Asia) is an investment vehicle that pools money from many individual investors. A professional fund manager invests and manages these funds into stocks, bonds and other securities. People usually invest in mutual funds because it is offers the advantage of broad diversification (it spreads your money over tens or hundreds of stocks to reduce risk) and professional management. However, do remember that as broad diversification reduces risks,... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Bill Byrnes @ Tuesday, 9th October 2007 @ 7:06 PM

Believe that a part of the economy will be particularly strong or a part of the stock market is undervalued? Sector mutual funds are one way of investing in market niches. Sector funds enable you to pinpoint your investments in areas such as health care, biotech, and technology (or financials, after the Fed rate cut). ETFs are another, but have some additional risks. The common cautionary note about sector funds is they're just that: an investment concentrated in one area, ... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Bill Byrnes @ Monday, 8th October 2007 @ 2:16 PM

Which of your investments worried you most during the recent market correction? If it was one of your smaller holdings, you're not alone. We all have only so much time and so many brain cells to devote to investing. If you're focusing yours on a tiny portion of your investments, the majority of your net worth is going unwatched. Many investors I speak with are focused on only one or two of their investments or, worse, are fixated on the one they sold which has since... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Bill Byrnes @ Friday, 3rd August 2007 @ 3:46 PM

One of the mantras of mutual fund investing is to look at a fund's turnover before you buy it. The implication is that a high turnover is bad. (Turnover is the percentage of a funds holdings that are traded during a year. Funds can have a turnover greater than 100%, which means that their average holding period per investment is less than one year.) Many mutual fund screening tools have portfolio turnover as one of their filters and you can usually find a fund's turnover (expressed... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Bill Byrnes @ Monday, 23rd July 2007 @ 11:20 PM

There was an excellent article discussing the pros and cons of investing in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in the July 3rd Wall Street Journal: As ETFs Seek Niches, Risks Rise (unfortunately, The Wall Street Journal doesn't allow us to link to their articles, perhaps that will change after Rupert Murdoch buys Dow Jones.) There's over $500 billion invested in Exchange Traded Funds and, I believe, they will either replace open-end index mutual funds or force those funds to lower their expe... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Bill Byrnes @ Tuesday, 17th July 2007 @ 8:40 PM

The S&P 500 is up about 7.5% thus far this year. That's a good return for just over six months. Will it keep going up? Consider this. The earnings of the S&P 500 companies are expected to grow by about 5% in 2007, according to a leading Wall Street brokerage firm. That means if the market was fairly valued at the beginning of 2007 and there were no big changes as to how investors think about the market, the S&P should only go up by 5% in 2007. Hence, game over. Come back next year. more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Mayoor Patel @ Sunday, 10th June 2007 @ 12:58 AM

When you have been awarded a settlement due to arbitration or through the order of a judge as a result of a lawsuit, one of the options open for receiving the award is by accepting structured mutual funds. But is this really a smart way to go? The fact is that it can be an ideal way of getting the most from the settlement. Here are a couple of reasons why. Mutual funds are considered to be relatively safe in most markets. That is not to say that there is no risk involved whatsoever. Howev... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Jeffrey Voudrie @ Thursday, 3rd May 2007 @ 1:06 PM

It's a headline that every stock market investor fears will happen. The markets crash and their hard-earned nest egg evaporates. They're forced to go back to work and must resort to eating beans and rice. Is that fear justified? No. Stock markets around the world dropped on Tuesday. The news media echoed that it was the biggest one-day drop since September 11th, 2001. The Chinese stock market dropped almost 10%. Here in the U.S., the major indexes were down over 3%. At one point... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Joseph Kenny @ Monday, 18th December 2006 @ 3:54 PM

Mutual funds are good options for American investors to meet their financial goals. These funds offer professional management and diversification of the funds invested. Mutual funds assets in 1990-2000 rose from 1.065 trillion to a whooping 6.965 trillion dollars. 10% Americans owned funds in 1980 and by 2000, the percentage increased to 49%. What are Mutual funds? A company dealing in mutual funds invests the money of several investors in bonds, stocks, securities, assets and s... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By William Smith @ Tuesday, 12th December 2006 @ 3:12 PM

An IRA is an Individual Retirement Account, which provides either a tax-deferred or a tax-free way of saving for future retirement. There are many varied forms of accounts within the world. Depending on the superb financial goals and situations of each individual, though maybe Long-established IRA and Roth IRA are the more familiar choices. An Individual Retirement Account, or an IRA, is a special tax-advantaged account that allows you to build savings for your retirement. One of the basi... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By William Smith @ Monday, 11th December 2006 @ 1:11 PM

A Mutual Fund can be termed as a form of a collective investment that collects money from many investors and invests the money into stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and / or other securities. In this type fund, the fund manager trades the fund's underlying securities, realizing their capital gains or loss, and collects the dividend or say the interest income. The investment earnings are then passed along to the individual investors. The value of a share of... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By William Smith @ Friday, 8th December 2006 @ 7:44 AM

Since its inception in 1998, the Roth IRA, ("Roth" for its legislative sponsor, the late Senator William Roth, and "IRA" for individual retirement account), has been one of the most popular retirement vehicles in the United States. The Roth IRA is particularly useful for hands-on investors and the self-employed, but almost everyone can benefit from opening and fully-funding a Roth IRA. A Roth IRA is a legally tax-sheltered savings and investment account. Qualifying... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By William Smith @ Friday, 8th December 2006 @ 7:31 AM

Mutual funds are one of the financial world's most popular investment vehicles, and for good reason. For a relatively small investment, these funds give individual investors the ability to buy a diverse portfolio of stocks and / or other financial instruments - all in one transaction. If you have just two or more mutual funds, chances are that you're more than adequately diversified. This means that you don't have to worry about one bad apple (i.e. Enron) destroyin... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Robert Valentine @ Saturday, 28th October 2006 @ 4:46 AM

Passive investment management may be the Rodney Dangerfield of financial strategies--it gets no respect. Active investment strategies have had the spotlight so long, some investors may be surprised to find there is an alternative to stock picking, market timing and other faster-paced, more glamorous methods. Active investment management uses research, investigation and analysis to select investments that the selector believes will outperform the general market indexes. Passive investment ... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Robert Valentine @ Wednesday, 18th October 2006 @ 5:02 PM

We all remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. It was in this tale that we learned a valuable lesson: slow and steady wins the race. The tortoise was not a glamorous creature and he may have lacked pizzazz, but in the end, he won. In a way, index funds are the modern-day tortoise in the race for a solid investment plan. Nothing flashy, just steadily keeping pace with a particular index, and if, by chance, that index does well, then the fund excels also. Index funds, whi... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By John Morris @ Thursday, 28th September 2006 @ 5:01 AM

SRI is an acronym for Socially Responsible Investing. According to one source over $2 trillion of money managed professionally is currently being invested according to some type of "social criteria". There are now hundreds of different mutual funds utilizing social screens to select investments. By definition SRI funds try to integrate social and environmental objectives, community investing, and shareholder action into their investment strategies. Of course, Socially Responsible Funds c... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Robert Valentine @ Tuesday, 26th September 2006 @ 7:19 AM

A prospectus for a mutual fund describing that fund's objectives, financial statements, and history probably doesn't sound like a fun read to most people. But a prospectus is an important document that adds detail and helps potential investors become more informed when making investment decisions. The added information has made a wealth of knowledge available on many mutual funds. This knowledge can potentially add to the confidence of an investor, should one take the time to g... more...

Finance » Stock Market Investing » Mutual Funds | By Jessica Deets @ Friday, 24th March 2006 @ 1:53 AM

There are a number of companies that handle investment for clients both large and small. Evergreen Mutual Funds is one such company. Falling into the mid- to large-size range as far as investment companies are concerned, this company provides its customers with a solid background and a proven track record. Founded more than 70 years ago, Evergreen is anything but a new comer on the investment scene. This is a selling point with a lot of individuals who view a company's stability as ... more...