Mutual Funds

Investing pros, newbies and anyone still-in-training can benefit from a refresher on mutuals. A mutual fund, an actively managed collection of investment products, is a nice addition to any woman’s portfolio. The New Savvy pulls up the veil on why owning shares in a mutual fund can improve your outlook for a better return on investment in the face of market corrections. Check out how you can save on commissions and trading costs. Mutual funds also provide a simple way to tailor a section of your portfolio to reflect your unique personal interests. A mutual fund is comprised of many equities bundled into a product sold at a single price-per-share. These equities may be government, municipal and corporate bonds, dividend-paying stocks and a mélange of other vehicles. Mutuals are generally offered to the public by investment fund companies. Every mutual fund has a manager, working on a commission basis, who actively manages the offering to get the best returns for the customer. Investing in mutuals can simplify your strategy. Purchasing shares in a mutual fund generates automatic diversification within just one purchase. Because there are often tens or even hundreds of individual stock and bond components in just one mutual fund, any downturn in the stock market can be balanced out by fixed-rate bonds that sit alongside the stocks. Forward-thinking women can match their own investment goals with the target of an individual mutual. Are you a high-risk personality who’s happy to weather some stormy seas to take a chance on getting a higher return? There are plenty of aggressive growth funds available. Do you prefer to focus on a certain industry sector? Then take a peek at mutuals that focus on areas as diverse as agriculture or Silicon Valley companies. Perhaps you like to stick with the tried-and-true; then a blue-chip mutual fund is an excellent choice. If it’s a priority to be able to count on fixed income at certain points during the year, there are income-stream options available that guarantee payment of dividends or capital gains on a pre-determined timeline. Active management of a mutual fund is necessary within a changing stock market. A manager is always looking for better ways to improve returns and will buy, sell or reinvest within a fund depending on market conditions on any given day. Managers receive commissions based on their performance so you’ll know they are always working hard in your interest! Mutual investors save money on fees. The purchaser pays one general transaction fee rather than many individual ones, which would accrue if equities were bought separately. By the same token, managers can keep their transaction charges low because they’re working with the pooled investment of many shareholders. For women looking for more in-depth knowledge, this mutual funds investment guide also explains the sub-types of mutual funds, the basics of real estate funds (real-estate investment trusts), index funds and exchange-traded funds. There’s a lot to discover and The New Savvy will help you do it.