Mutual Fund Advantages

1. Choose a mutual fund that will make you lots of money in the coming years

2. Get started right NOW

It's really that simple? Yep, that simple, well almost - you have to pick a really good fund.

Mutual funds can be a very foolproof way of investing. Mutual funds give people just like you the opportunity to save your money, along with other investors, in an investment account managed by some of the best financial minds in the world.

Mutual Fund Advantages

This is an ideal way for you to avoid the complications of picking your own stocks. You can also select funds that invest in bonds, government securities, real estate, precious metals, or even a combination of investments.

Other mutual fund advantages include:

• You can get started for as little as $0 (see page 150), but $2,000 is a more common minimum. It's easy to arrange regular transfers of money from your savings or checking account to buy more shares in the fund.

• Mutual funds give you convenient access to your money. With 24 hour telephone 800 numbers, in an emergency you can sometimes arrange next day wire transfers of money back to your bank. If you request a check, it is generally mailed within 2-3 days, although the fund is allowed up to 7 days.

• Instant diversification. By carefully selecting your fund, you automatically have a diversified portfolio matching your investment style and risk tolerance.

• Most mutual funds are managed by professional stock pickers. These are really smart people whose paycheck is tied to the performance of the fund that they are managing.

A downside is that many people are "sold" a fund that either doesn’t meet their investing time frame, usually with a hefty sales commission (called a load), or the fund's earnings don't even match a basic index-fund that is essentially run by a computer.

Earlier, in this book's introduction, you saw how $10,000 invested in a mutual fund in 1926 grew to over $64,000,000 in 75 years. This was demonstrated by a Pioneer Fund’s advertisement in many financial magazines, and is actually a typical result for mutual funds over this time period (it was up to $81 million in March of 2000).

Yes it's true, that the potential is even greater for a successful stock market trader. But unless you can beat the performance of a professional mutual fund manager, a wisely chosen fund is a better choice.

Other Stock Market Basics Topics:

1. Mutual Fund Advantages
2. History of Mutual Funds
3. NAV
4. Dollar Cost Averaging
5. General advice about choosing a fund
6. Mutual Fund Ratings
7. Evaluating Mutual Fund Investment Risk
8. Mutual Fund Share Classes
9. Mutual Fund Fees
10. The Mutual Fund Prospectus
11. How important is the manager's length of experience?
12. Why is the prospectus hard to understand?
13. Mutual Fund Annual Report
14. Comparing your fund to the competition
15. Comparing funds on an after-tax basis
16. Average Return on Investment
17. How Not to Pick a Mutual Fund
18. Cashing in Your Fund
19. When to Sell Your Fund
20. Mutual Funds and Asset Allocation
21. When to get started with a mutual fund
22. Types of Mutual Funds
23. Value Stock Funds
24. Growth Stock Funds
25. Small and Micro-cap Stocks
26. Mid Cap
27. Large Cap Companies
28. Income Stock Funds
29. Mutual Fund Index
30. Enhanced Index Funds
31. Sector Mutual Funds
32. Stock Market Sectors
33. Defensive Stocks
34. International Funds
35. Real Estate Mutual Funds
36. Socially Responsible Funds
37. Balanced Funds
38. Tax-Efficient Funds
39. Bond Convertible Funds
40. Junk Bond Funds
41. Mixtures of stock types
42. Closed End Funds
43. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s)
44. Stock Picking Strategy - Picking your own stocks?
45. Fund names, and what they really invest in
46. How to get started
47. Where can I start investing with no money?
    

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