Column 3: Fund Name – This column lists the name of the mutual fund. The company that manages the fund is written above in bold type.

Column 4: Fund Specifics – Different letters and symbols have various meanings. For example, “N” means no load, “F” is front end load, and “B” means the fund has both front and back-end fees. For other symbols see the legend in the newspaper in which you found the table.

Column 5: Dollar Change -This states the dollar change in the price of the mutual fund from the previous day’s trading.

Column 6: % Change – This states the percentage change in the price of the mutual fund from the previous day’s trading.

Column 7: Week High – This is the highest price the fund traded at during the past week.

Column 8: Week Low – This is the lowest price the fund traded at during the past week.

Column 9: Close – The last price at which the fund was traded is shown in this column.

Column 10: Week’s Dollar Change – This represents the dollar change in the price of the mutual fund from the previous week.

Column 11: Week’s % Change – This shows the percentage change in the price of the mutual fund from the previous week.

You can buy some mutual funds (no-load) by contacting the fund companies directly. Other funds are sold through brokers, banks, financial planners, or insurance agents. If you buy through a third party there is a good chance they’ll hit you with a sales charge.

That being said, more and more funds can be purchased through no-transaction fee programs that offer funds of many companies. Sometimes referred to as a “fund supermarket,” this service lets you consolidate your holdings and record keeping, and it still allows you to buy funds without sales charges from many different companies.

Selling a fund is as easy as purchasing one. All mutual funds will redeem (buy back) your shares on any business day. In the United States, companies must send you the payment within seven days.

The Value of the Fund

Net asset value (NAV), which is a fund’s assets minus liabilities, is the value of a mutual fund. NAV per share is the value of one share in the mutual fund, and it is the number that is quoted in newspapers. You can basically just think of NAV per share as the price of a mutual fund. It fluctuates everyday as fund holdings and shares outstanding change.
When you buy shares, you pay the current NAV per share plus any sales front-end load. When you sell your shares, the fund will pay you NAV less any back-end load.

What’s even more disturbing is the way the fund industry hides costs through a layer of financial complexity and jargon. Some critics of the industry say that mutual fund companies get away with the fees they charge only because the average investor does not understand what he/she is paying for.

Fees can be broken down into two categories:
1. Ongoing yearly fees to keep you invested in the fund.
2. Transaction fees paid when you buy or sell shares in a fund

Costs – Mutual funds don’t exist solely to make your life easier – all funds are in it for a profit. The mutual fund industry is masterful at burying costs under layers of jargon. These costs are so complicated that in this tutorial we have devoted an entire section to the subject.

Dilution – It’s possible to have too much diversification. Because funds have small holdings in so many different companies, high returns from a few investments often don’t make much difference on the overall return. Dilution is also the result of a successful fund getting too big. When money pours into funds that have had strong success, the manager often has trouble finding a good investment for all the new money.

Taxes – When making decisions about your money, fund managers don’t consider your personal tax situation. For example, when a fund manager sells a security, a capital-gains tax is triggered, which affects how profitable the individual is from the sale. It might have been more advantageous for the individual to defer the capital gains liability.

Interest Rate Risk

When interest rates fall, a bond’s value usually rises. When interest rates rise, a bond’s value usually falls. The longer a bond’s maturity, the more its price tends to fluctuate as market interest rates change. However, while longer-term bonds tend to fluctuate in value more than shorter-term bonds, they also tend to have higher yields to compensate for this risk.

Unlike a bond, a bond mutual fund does not have a fixed maturity. It does, however, have an average portfolio maturity—the average of all the maturity dates of the bonds in the fund’s portfolio. In general, the longer a fund’s average portfolio maturity, the more sensitive the fund’s share price will be to changes in interest rates and the more the fund’s shares will fluctuate in value.

Credit Risk

Credit risk refers to the “creditworthiness” of the bond issuer and its expected ability to pay interest and to repay its debt. If a bond issuer is unable to repay principal or interest on time, the bond is said to be in default. A decline in an issuer’s credit rating, or creditworthiness, can cause a bond’s price to decline. Bond funds holding the bond could then experience a decline in their net asset value.

Prepayment Risk

Prepayment risk is the possibility that a bond owner will receive his or her principal investment back from the issuer prior to the bond’s maturity date. This can happen when interest rates fall, giving the issuer an opportunity to borrow money at a lower interest rate than the one currently being paid. (For example, a homeowner who refinances a home mortgage to take advantage of decreasing interest rates has prepaid the mortgage.) As a consequence, the bond’s owner will not receive any more interest payments from the investment. This also forces any reinvestment to be made in a market where prevailing interest rates are lower than when the initial investment was made. If a bond fund held a bond that has been prepaid, the fund may have to reinvest the money in a bond that will have a lower yield.

A bond fund share represents ownership in a pool of bonds and other securities comprising the fund’s portfolio. Although there have been past exceptions, bond funds tend to be less volatile than stock funds and often produce regular income. For these reasons, investors often use bond funds to diversify, provide a stream of income, or invest for intermediate-term goals. Like stock funds, bond funds have risks and can make or lose money.

When you buy shares of a stock mutual fund, you essentially become a part owner of each of the securities in your fund’s portfolio. Stock investments have historically been a great source for increasing individual wealth, even though the stocks of the most successful companies may experience periodic declines in value. Over time, stocks historically have performed better than other investments in securities, such as bonds and money market instruments. Of course, there is no guarantee that this historical trend will be true in the future. That’s why stock funds are best used as long-term investments.

Funds Management

Even under the best of market conditions, it takes an astute, experienced investor to choose investments correctly, and a further commitment of time to continually monitor those investments.

With mutual funds, experienced professionals manage a portfolio of securities for the customer full-time, and decide which securities to buy and sell based on extensive research. A fund is usually managed by an individual or a team choosing investments that best match the fund’s objectives. As economic conditions change, the managers often adjust the mix of the fund’s investments to ensure it continues to meet the fund’s objectives.

Diversification

Successful investors know that diversifying their investments can help reduce the adverse impact of a single investment. Mutual funds introduce diversification to your investment portfolio automatically by holding a wide variety of securities. Moreover, since you pool your assets with those of other investors, a mutual fund allows the investor to obtain a more diversified portfolio than you would probably be able to comfortably manage on your own — and at a fraction of the cost. In short, funds allow you the opportunity to invest in many markets and sectors.

That’s the key benefit of diversification.

Variety

Within the broad categories of stock, bond, and money market funds, you can choose among a variety of investment approaches. Today, there are about 8,200 mutual funds available in the U.S., with goals and styles to fi t most objectives and circumstances.

Low Cost

Mutual funds usually hold dozens or even hundreds of securities like stocks and bonds. The primary way you pay for this service is through a fee that is based on the total value of your account. Because the fund industry consists of hundreds of competing firms and thousands of funds, the actual level of fees can vary. But for most investors, mutual funds provide professional management and diversification at a fraction of the cost of making such investments independently.

Liquidity

Liquidity is the ability to readily access your money in an investment. Mutual fund shares are liquid investments that can be sold on any business day. Mutual funds are required by law to buy, or redeem, shares each business day. The price per share at which you can redeem shares is known as the fund’s net asset value (NAV). NAV is the current market value of all the fund’s assets, minus liabilities, divided by the total number of outstanding shares.

Convenience

You can purchase or sell fund shares directly from a fund or through a broker, financial planner, bank or insurance agent, by mail, over the telephone, and increasingly by personal computer. You can also arrange for automatic reinvestment or periodic distribution of the dividends and capital gains paid by the fund. Funds may offer a wide variety of other services, including monthly or quarterly account statements, tax information, and 24-hour phone and computer access to fund and account information.

Protection

Not only are mutual funds subject to compliance with their self-imposed restrictions and limitations, they are also highly regulated by the government. As part of this government regulation, all funds must meet certain operating standards, observe strict antifraud rules, and disclose complete information to current and potential investors. These laws are strictly enforced and designed to protect investors from fraud and abuse. But these laws obviously cannot help you pick the fund that is right for you or prevent a fund from losing money.

There are three basic types of mutual funds—stock (also called equity), bond, and money market. Stock mutual funds invest primarily in shares of stock issued by Indian or foreign companies. Bond mutual funds invest primarily in bonds. Money market mutual funds invest mainly in short-term securities.

Money Market Funds
The money market consists of short-term debt instruments. This is a safe place to park your money. You won’t get great returns, but you won’t have to worry about losing your principal. A typical return is twice the amount you would earn in a regular savings account and a little less than the average certificate of deposit(CD).

Bond/Income Funds
Income funds are named appropriately: their purpose is to provide current income on a steady basis. When referring to mutual funds, the terms “fixed-income,” “bond,” and “income” are synonymous. These terms denote funds that invest primarily in government and corporate debt. While fund holdings may appreciate in value, the primary objective of these funds is to provide a steady cashflow to investors. As such, the audience for these funds consists of conservative investors and retirees.

Bond funds are likely to pay higher returns than certificates of deposit and money market investments, but bond funds aren’t without risk. Because there are many different types of bonds, bond funds can vary dramatically depending on where they invest. For example, a fund specializing in high-yield junk bonds is much more risky than a fund that invests in government securities. Furthermore, nearly all bond funds are subject to interest rate risk, which means that if rates go up the value of the fund goes down.

Balanced Funds
The objective of these funds is to provide a balanced mixture of safety, income and capital appreciation. The strategy of balanced funds is to invest in a combination of fixed income and equities. A typical balanced fund might have a weighting of 60% equity and 40% fixed income. The weighting might also be restricted to a specified maximum or minimum for each asset class.

A similar type of fund is known as an asset allocation fund. Objectives are similar to those of a balanced fund, but these kinds of funds typically do not have to hold a specified percentage of any asset class. The portfolio manager is therefore given freedom to switch the ratio of asset classes as the economy moves through the business cycle.

Equity Funds
Funds that invest in stocks represent the largest category of mutual funds. Generally, the investment objective of this class of funds is long-term capital growth with some income. There are, however, many different types of equity funds because there are many different types of equities. A great way to understand the universe of equity funds is to use a style box, an example of which is below.

The idea is to classify funds based on both the size of the companies invested in and the investment style of the manager. The term value refers to a style of investing that looks for high quality companies that are out of favor with the market. These companies are characterized by low P/E and price-to-book ratios and high dividend yields. The opposite of value is growth, which refers to companies that have had (and are expected to continue to have) strong growth in earnings, sales and cash flow. A compromise between value and growth is blend, which simply refers to companies that are neither value nor growth stocks and are classified as being somewhere in the middle.

For example, a mutual fund that invests in large-cap companies that are in strong financial shape but have recently seen their share prices fall would be placed in the upper left quadrant of the style box (large and value). The opposite of this would be a fund that invests in startup technology companies with excellent growth prospects. Such a mutual fund would reside in the bottom right quadrant (small and growth).

Global/International Funds

An international fund (or foreign fund) invests only outside your home country. Global funds invest anywhere around the world, including your home country.

It’s tough to classify these funds as either riskier or safer than domestic investments. They do tend to be more volatile and have unique country and/or political risks. But, on the flip side, they can, as part of a well-balanced portfolio, actually reduce risk by increasing diversification. Although the world’s economies are becoming more inter-related, it is likely that another economy somewhere is outperforming the economy of your home country.