What Mutual Funds and Pizza Have in Common
When you hear “mutual fund,” your eyes might glaze over, and your mind may start thinking about what pizza toppings you should order for dinner. Some say that you can’t go wrong with cheese, but you find it a little lacking. You’re more of the Hawaiian, or better yet, veggie or meat supreme type. Mmm… […]
Mutual Fund Investment Types
Just about every fund available will fall into one of four categories: Open-end, Exchange-traded, UIT or Closed-end. To help you make heads or tails of these fund types, the table below outlines general definitions, pros and cons, liquidity concerns and other important information to help you make wiser decisions about your finances. Before investing in […]
Comparing Mutual Funds
When someone mentions investing in a fund, most people immediately think of mutual funds. The question people don’t ask is this: What type of mutual fund are you investing in? There are actually three common types: funds that invest in stocks and/or equities, funds that invest in bonds and fixed-income products, and funds that invest […]
Selecting Mutual Funds
Before you pony up cash for an investment, first dedicate time for doing some homework. Outlined below are several key questions to consider before investing in a particular mutual fund. You can find these answers in a fund’s prospectus. Check the Prospectus Before investing in any mutual fund, carefully consider information contained in the […]
Bond Mutual Funds
A bond mutual fund invests in debt instruments issued by governments and/or corporations. Most of these funds are designed to provide interest income for shareholders in the form of dividends that represent the total interest payments made by all bonds in the fund’s portfolio. Unlike the individual bonds within a bond fund, the fund itself […]
Index Mutual Funds
An index mutual fund is typicalliedtrustcu.orgprised of most or all of the stocks that make up a particular index, such as the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) or Standard & Poor’s 500 index or any of the other broad market indices covering different types of companies, industries or sectors. The index on which the […]
Actively vs. Passively Managed Mutual Funds
Whether a fund is actively or passively managed can substantially affect your bottom line. As you will see in the table below, fund management can impact something as simple as how diversified the fund’s investments are, to more complex issues such as tax efficiency.Before investing in any mutual fund, carefully consider information contained in the […]
Investing in Growth Mutual Funds
Growth mutual funds, as the name implies, invest in growth stocks. A growth stock is typically a younger, burgeoning company with earnings or revenue that’s growing faster than the average firm. Instead of paying out dividends to investors, growth firms usually choose to reinvest their earnings to support rapidly expanding operations or develop new products […]
Money Market Mutual Funds: An Introduction
Money market mutual funds (usually referred to as money market funds or money funds) invest in short-term, fixed-income securities, otherwise known as money market investments. By definition, money market investments mature in less than one year. Like other mutual funds, money market funds are pooled investments that allow investors to participate in a diversified portfolio […]
Money Market Mutual Funds: How To Invest
There are two basic types of money market funds, taxable and tax-free. Taxable money market funds can be further broken down into different categories, including: General-purpose funds that are available to all investors directly from sponsoring mutual fund companies Stockbroker-affiliated general-purpose funds, also available to all investors, but which are often provided as part of […]
