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What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Mutual Funds

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Mutual funds are pools of money. Money from many different individual investors can be pooled with money from, say, the retirement fund of a global corporation.

This money is managed full time by professionals who are paid for their financial management expertise.

Mutual funds invest in a portfolio of stocks (equities), bonds, or money market instruments. You, the shareholder, own a proportionate part in much the same way you would be an owner of a company in which you buy stock.

If a stock fund invests in the stocks of 50 companies, you own a part of those 50 companies. You share ownership with other individuals and sometimes with institutional investors.

Investing in mutual funds has similarities to investing in stocks, but there is one difference: Most funds are "open-ended." An open-ended fund is one in which there is no fixed amount of shares outstanding.

Investors can buy shares in an open-ended mutual fund at any time, and in unlimited quantities, as long as the fund is open to new investments. This is in contrast to stocks and closed-end mutual funds, which issue a certain number of shares.

The Advantages of Mutual Fund Investing

• Diversification: When you invest in a mutual fund, you get instant diversification of your holdings by owning a part of each company that your fund invests in.

• Professional Management: Fund managers have more time, expertise, and resources to manage investments than most individual investors do. However, managers have widely varying levels of experience and different track records, which you should examine carefully.

• Convenience: They provide a great deal of convenience for busy investors. Not only is it fairly easy to purchase fund shares, but they also offer automatic transfers and reinvestments of dividends and capital gains. You can also transfer your money from one fund to another.

• Selection: There is a fund available for virtually any type of market sector that you might be interested in. A mutual fund screener is a good way to find high-quality funds for your portfolio. There are also mutual fund newsletters that provide investors with fund profiles and information.

• Liquidity: They offer an important combination of appreciation potential plus

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