Tag Archives: mutual funds

Mutual Fund Terms

When investing in mutual funds, there are many terms to know and understand. However, they are not always common knowledge. To better help you evaluate your investments and understand what your financial planner is telling you, let us discuss some common terms. 1. Equity Funds – These funds invest only in stocks. 2. Fixed Income Funds – These funds invest only in bonds. 3. Growth Funds – These specialize in companies expected to grow quickly, particularly when compared to similar companies in the same industry. 4. Index Funds – The fund managers of these funds try to match the stock … Continue reading →

Selecting a Mutual Fund

The key to investing is to diversify. The best-diversified investment is a mutual fund. The way a mutual fund works is the fund manager selects a huge assortment of stocks to make up the fund. Therefore, it is an easy way to invest money in a variety of individual companies. In general, different mutual funds perform differently based on the market sector they are a part of and the “luck” or talent of the fund manager. Given this, how do you select a mutual fund for you? Whether it is for your children’s college education, retirement or even shorter-term investment … Continue reading →

Clean House

It is 2008; do you know what your mutual funds are doing? With the arrival of the New Year, it is a perfect time to clean out your closets and check on your financial portfolios. After the year ends, mutual fund companies release their year-end distributions reports for tax purposes. This is a perfect opportunity to evaluate your current investments and their performance. The year 2007 saw a lot of profitable funds and healthy increases for many. Therefore, if you have funds that appear to be consistent losers – it could be time to look elsewhere. At the very least, … Continue reading →

Index Funds

The following is a brief financial planning lesson for you. While everyone has their own opinions about where to put your investments, this is one concept we all should consider: index funds. What is an index fund? It is a mutual fund that is managed to follow the average rate of the market it is in (the index). An example would be an index fund for the U.S. stock market. The fund manager’s goal would be to maintain an average increase in the funds value that matches the average overall increase in the stock market as a whole. What are … Continue reading →