Mutual funds investing.
A mutual fund is a type of financial intermediary that pools the funds of investors who seek the same general investment objective and invests there in a number of different types of financial claims (e.g., equity shares, bonds, money market instruments).These pooled funds provide thousands of investors with proportional ownership of diversified portfolios managed by professional investment managers. The term ‘mutual’ is used in the sense that all its returns, minus its expenses, are shared by the fund’s unit holders.In a sense, mutual fund is the purest form of financial intermediary because there is almost perfect pass through of money between unit holders (savers) and the securities in which the fund invests.
Unit holders are indicated a-priori in what type of securities their funds will be invested. Value of the securities held in the fund portfolio is translated on the daily basis directly to the value of the fund units held by the unit holders.
By contrast, a commercial bank is not a pass through type of financial intermediary. Banks collect deposits from depositors (savers). The depositors have no specific knowledge of how their funds will be used.Bank invests the monies of the depositors in loans & advances which the bank officers feel appropriate at the time. On the deposits collected banks usually give a specified rate of return (interest) that is not linked to the performance of its loans & advances portfolio.It is important to understand that a mutual fund is as risky as the underlying assets in which it invests. Though regulations ensure disciplined investments and ceilings on expenses that are charged to the unit holders, unit holders assume investment or market risk, including the possible loss of principal, because mutual funds invest in securities whose value may rise and fall.
Unlike bank deposits, mutual funds are not insured under Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961Of course there is also an upside to investment or market risk. Generally speaking, if you aspire for higher returns then you have to take greater risk. One has to evaluate the riskiness of a mutual fund from the assets it invests.Mutual funds are an easy, convenient way to invest, without having to worry about choosing individual stocks. A mutual fund can be defined as a single portfolio of stocks, bonds, and/or cash managed by an investment company on behalf of many investors. The investment company manages the fund, and sells shares in the fund to individual investors. When one invests in a mutual fund, they become a part-owner of a large investment portfolio, along with all the other shareholders of the fund. The fund manager invests the contributions when shares are purchased, along with money from the other shareholders. Every day, the fund manager counts up the value of all the fund's holdings, figures out how many shares have been purchased by…show more content…
These funds can also specialize in bonds, stocks, or some mix of the two. An international fund can also specialize in a particular country or region of the world, such as the Pacific Rim, Latin America, or Germany.
Equity-fund managers usually use one of three particular styles of stock picking when they make investment decisions for their portfolios. First there is value, where a fund manager uses a value approach search for stocks that are undervalued when compared to other similar companies. Next, there is growth and those funds try to find stocks that are growing faster than their competitors, or the market as a whole. These are often the stocks of well-known established corporations. There is blend where managers buy both kinds of stocks, building a portfolio of both growth and value stocks.