Stocks Verses Mutual Funds

By: Smithveg

While some may find that idea of comparing stocks to mutual funds a little bit odd, since mutual funds are often made up of stocks, bonds, or some combination of the two, it's quite necessary to compare the two when it comes to deciding what is best for your financial outlook. Some of the more notable differences will be discussed below in order to help you decide which investment type is more suitable for your financial situation.

When it comes to investing for the everyday man or woman you really can't beat mutual funds. Stocks carry hefty fees for buying, selling, and transferring that significantly hinder any profits that would otherwise be made from the transaction. In fact, these fees often serve to deter the trading of stocks rather than encouraging it. Perversely, bug trading companies offer hefty discounts for their big spenders making the stock market trading game seem even more exclusive by marking it easier for those who already have a great deal invested that they make it for the new guy trying to make his way on the market. Mutual funds are much more accessible to those who don't have massive fortunes available to invest and need to make small steps (such as $100 a month) towards their financial and investment goals.

Mutual funds typically carry less risk than the average stock purchase as well. This happens for many reasons. First of all mutual funds are not generally invested in one sector, industry, or company. For this reason if one of the stocks fails, the proceeds from the other stocks and bonds purchased will help mitigate the loss, making it less noticeable. At the same time, the loss is shared by a large group of people so that even if a slight overall loss is experienced as the result it will be much less noticeable that if the stock purchased was yours and your alone.

Finally, the fact that the funds are already diversified to a large degree helps insulate from huge fluctuations in the market such as those seen recently when the sub prime mortgage industry bubble popped leaving many investors ducking for cover.As you can see there are some differences between stocks and mutual funds.