By: Joseph Kenny
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 several other short-term money-market instruments. The combined holdings owned by the mutual fund are known as its portfolio.
When you invest in a mutual fund you become a shareholder of the company. Each share in a mutual fund company is the representation of he investor's proportionate ownership of the fund holdings and the income generated. You earn dividends when the mutual fund company earns a profit, however, your shares will decrease in value if it faces a loss. A professional investment manager does the buying and selling of securities for the growth of the fund.
Types of mutual funds:
Equity funds: These funds involve only common stock investments. They can earn a lot of profit, but are also very risky.
Fixed income funds: They include corporate and government securities. These funds offer fixed returns at a low risk.
Balanced funds: This is the combination of bonds and stocks with a low risk. However, the investment does not earn a lot through these funds.
How it works?
Mutual fund shares can be purchased from the company itself or a broker. There are secondary market investors also, like the New York Stock Exchange. Per share net asset value of the funds or NAV is the price that you pay for buying a mutual fund share. It also includes the shareholder fee that is imposed by the fund, at time of purchase.
The best feature of mutual funds is that these shares are redeemable. You, as an investor, can sell your shares back to the broker. In order to accommodate new investors, mutual fund companies generally create new shares and sell them. They keep selling their shares continuously till they become large.
Investment advisers act as separate entities and are responsible for managing the investment portfolio of the mutual funds. Investing in mutual funds tends to lower the risk factor because they are the result of diverse investments.
Since someone else manages your investments, you need not worry about keeping constant tabs on the investment, though a periodical check enhances your personal book of accounts. Managing funds is the full time job of the fund manager and he is responsible for the performance and health of the investment.
The rate of returns in mutual funds is based on the increase or decrease of the value, during a specific period. Returns of a fund indicate the track record. It is important to remember that the past performance cannot guarantee future results.
As in the case of any investment or business, mutual funds also have risks associated with the returns. It is essential to set your financial goals and requirements, before investing in a mutual fund.
Article Source: http://www.find-investment-advice.com
Joe Kenny writes for SelectLoans.co.uk, a bad credit loans comparison site, visit us today for information on all loan topics including debt consolidation loans and links to leading UK providers.Our Site: www.selectloans.co.uk/
Showing posts with label TRADE MARKET. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRADE MARKET. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Benefits of Investing in Mutual Funds
By: Fred Peters
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 fund managers to invest in various kinds of securities. The type of mutual fund will dictate what type of investments the mutual fund managers invest in. They will have a governance model and these managers will abide by such model when investing the funds assets. When you buy into a fund, you are buying a share of the assets fund's assets. You actually become a shareholder of the mutual fund itself.
The first major benefit of investing in mutual funds is the automatic diversification they give you. Many people do not have enough money to invest in all of the securities they would like to individually purchase. They allow you to pool your money so that you can buy many more stocks and bonds. This allows you to buy shares in multiple companies as opposed to only being able to purchase one share of stock.
The second benefit of investing in mutual funds is that you get the benefit of having professional financial advisors managing your money. Few can afford to pay a financial advisor to focus solely on our money. However, when you buy into a mutual fund, these mutual fund managers will professionally manage your money.
Along with diversification and profession money management, they allow you to purchase into securities that you might not be able to afford to buy. For instance, if a certain security would have a $100,000 minimum purchase requirement, you might have trouble coming up with this $100,000. Additionally, you might not want all of this money tied up into this one security. But by pooling your money with other investors, you can now buy a portion of this security.
There are many more benefits of investing in mutual funds. But, the diversification and professional money management are huge. If you are not investing in mutual funds today, you need to consider making them part of your portfolio.
Article Source: http://www.find-investment-advice.com
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 fund managers to invest in various kinds of securities. The type of mutual fund will dictate what type of investments the mutual fund managers invest in. They will have a governance model and these managers will abide by such model when investing the funds assets. When you buy into a fund, you are buying a share of the assets fund's assets. You actually become a shareholder of the mutual fund itself.
The first major benefit of investing in mutual funds is the automatic diversification they give you. Many people do not have enough money to invest in all of the securities they would like to individually purchase. They allow you to pool your money so that you can buy many more stocks and bonds. This allows you to buy shares in multiple companies as opposed to only being able to purchase one share of stock.
The second benefit of investing in mutual funds is that you get the benefit of having professional financial advisors managing your money. Few can afford to pay a financial advisor to focus solely on our money. However, when you buy into a mutual fund, these mutual fund managers will professionally manage your money.
Along with diversification and profession money management, they allow you to purchase into securities that you might not be able to afford to buy. For instance, if a certain security would have a $100,000 minimum purchase requirement, you might have trouble coming up with this $100,000. Additionally, you might not want all of this money tied up into this one security. But by pooling your money with other investors, you can now buy a portion of this security.
There are many more benefits of investing in mutual funds. But, the diversification and professional money management are huge. If you are not investing in mutual funds today, you need to consider making them part of your portfolio.
Article Source: http://www.find-investment-advice.com
Friday, September 26, 2008
Winning With Mutual Funds
By: Adam Khoo
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, it also reduces return.
First, here is the bad news. If you speak to most people who have invested in unit trusts in Asia (especially Singapore) or in mutual funds, most would report losing money or just earning measly returns of 2%-4%. In fact, in the year 2004, it was reported in the Straits Times that 559,000 Singaporeans lost $680 million by investing their CPF in these funds. By going to the largest unit trust distributor Asia, you can easily calculate that only 6% of unit trusts beat the S&P 500 over a ten-year period. What are the chances of you placing your bet on this 6%? Chances are you would have had lower returns that the index, while still having to pay those hefty sales charges and annual management fees.
How about the US mutual fund market? On average, less than 10% of mutual funds beat the S&P 500 index each year! What's worse is that it is a different 10% each year. Less than 3% of mutual funds are able to beat the S&P 500 Index over a five to ten year period. So again, what are the chances of you beating the market through betting on the right fund? Only 3%! You have better odds at the Black Jack table. The worse thing is that the fund manager gets paid an annual management fee whether or not the fund makes money.
Why is it so difficult for most people to make money in mutual funds? There are four main reasons.
1) High Sales Charges & Management Fees
Most people buy mutual funds through banks and financial institutions at retail prices where there is a sales charge (front load) and high annual management fees (expense ratios).
In Asia, most banks & financial institutions sell unit trusts with a sales charge of 5%-6% and with annual fees of 1.5%-2%. It means that before you even begin, you are down 6.5%-8% on your investment and will be down another 1.5% every year. Your fund must outperform the S&P 500 by 6.5%-8% just to make it worth your while! Again, less than 10% of funds worldwide can achieve this every year and less than 3% can achieve this over five years.
2) Buying the Hottest Performing FundsMost people choose funds based on high short-term returns. These are the funds that are normally pushed and advertised by financial retailers. They feature impressive and enticing returns like 'This fund was up +65% in the last six months'.
The fact is that the best short-term performing funds tend to also be big losers in the subsequent years and long term. Why? Because these funds tend to be invested in hot stocks or hot sectors where the stocks have been rising rapidly and fund managers buy, riding on the momentum. That is why they post very spectacular returns. However, strong buying activity tend to push these stocks to be overvalued and sure enough, the stocks will come crashing down in the next few years. Mutual funds that consistently beat the S&P 500 tend to be invested in non-hot sectors and do not post spectacular short-term returns.
3) Limited Selection of Unit Trusts Locally
If you are in Asia, then you are normally exposed to only a limited number of unit trusts. A check with fundsupermart.com (the largest Asian unit trust distributor) shows that there are just about 300 funds available here compared to over 8,000 funds in the US market.
When I made a search on the Top Performing Fund sold locally (year 2005), I was presented with 'Fidelity America USD' with a 10-year annualized return of 11.27%. (Recall that the S&P 500 returned 12.08% a year). So, even the top-performing fund couldn't beat the S&P 500 after deducting expenses & fees!!
4) Lack of Research Knowledge, Data & Tools
The single most important reason why investors lose money in mutual fundsis because they don't have the knowledge or necessary information to search for the top 3% of consistent performing funds at the lowest costs. Investors tend to buy on the advice of their bank managers, facts from the fund fact sheet or prospectus which does not provide enough information to select the right fund.
Article Source: http://www.find-investment-advice.com
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, it also reduces return.
First, here is the bad news. If you speak to most people who have invested in unit trusts in Asia (especially Singapore) or in mutual funds, most would report losing money or just earning measly returns of 2%-4%. In fact, in the year 2004, it was reported in the Straits Times that 559,000 Singaporeans lost $680 million by investing their CPF in these funds. By going to the largest unit trust distributor Asia, you can easily calculate that only 6% of unit trusts beat the S&P 500 over a ten-year period. What are the chances of you placing your bet on this 6%? Chances are you would have had lower returns that the index, while still having to pay those hefty sales charges and annual management fees.
How about the US mutual fund market? On average, less than 10% of mutual funds beat the S&P 500 index each year! What's worse is that it is a different 10% each year. Less than 3% of mutual funds are able to beat the S&P 500 Index over a five to ten year period. So again, what are the chances of you beating the market through betting on the right fund? Only 3%! You have better odds at the Black Jack table. The worse thing is that the fund manager gets paid an annual management fee whether or not the fund makes money.
Why is it so difficult for most people to make money in mutual funds? There are four main reasons.
1) High Sales Charges & Management Fees
Most people buy mutual funds through banks and financial institutions at retail prices where there is a sales charge (front load) and high annual management fees (expense ratios).
In Asia, most banks & financial institutions sell unit trusts with a sales charge of 5%-6% and with annual fees of 1.5%-2%. It means that before you even begin, you are down 6.5%-8% on your investment and will be down another 1.5% every year. Your fund must outperform the S&P 500 by 6.5%-8% just to make it worth your while! Again, less than 10% of funds worldwide can achieve this every year and less than 3% can achieve this over five years.
2) Buying the Hottest Performing FundsMost people choose funds based on high short-term returns. These are the funds that are normally pushed and advertised by financial retailers. They feature impressive and enticing returns like 'This fund was up +65% in the last six months'.
The fact is that the best short-term performing funds tend to also be big losers in the subsequent years and long term. Why? Because these funds tend to be invested in hot stocks or hot sectors where the stocks have been rising rapidly and fund managers buy, riding on the momentum. That is why they post very spectacular returns. However, strong buying activity tend to push these stocks to be overvalued and sure enough, the stocks will come crashing down in the next few years. Mutual funds that consistently beat the S&P 500 tend to be invested in non-hot sectors and do not post spectacular short-term returns.
3) Limited Selection of Unit Trusts Locally
If you are in Asia, then you are normally exposed to only a limited number of unit trusts. A check with fundsupermart.com (the largest Asian unit trust distributor) shows that there are just about 300 funds available here compared to over 8,000 funds in the US market.
When I made a search on the Top Performing Fund sold locally (year 2005), I was presented with 'Fidelity America USD' with a 10-year annualized return of 11.27%. (Recall that the S&P 500 returned 12.08% a year). So, even the top-performing fund couldn't beat the S&P 500 after deducting expenses & fees!!
4) Lack of Research Knowledge, Data & Tools
The single most important reason why investors lose money in mutual fundsis because they don't have the knowledge or necessary information to search for the top 3% of consistent performing funds at the lowest costs. Investors tend to buy on the advice of their bank managers, facts from the fund fact sheet or prospectus which does not provide enough information to select the right fund.
Article Source: http://www.find-investment-advice.com
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