whats a mutual fund? whats the best?
436201
A Mutual Fund is a collective fund pooled by an enterprise from the investors having mutual interest. The fund collections shall be invested by the Fund manager in the stocks traded on the exchange. The type & mode of investment made by the Fund Manager shall be made specific to the investors at the time of collecting the amount from them. There are lot of mutual funds availble in the market like Morgan Stanley ... etc.,. The mutual funds are governed by laws of the respective country.
1119494
Just starting out, a mutul fund is a good approach. Some you can buy from brokers like Fidelity or TD Ameritrade.  Others you need to buy directly from the mutual fund company.  There are some good funds but most are not so you must do your research.  To begin with search for funds that have a good long term record and are invested mostly in stocks.  Windsor fund is one offered by Vanguard although its record over the last 5 years has not been too good.  The best performing funds over the last 5 years have been gold funds, oil funds, and foreign market funds.  Your guess is as good as mine as to whether that will continue but China looks rather more enticing than the U S for sure.
342742
To best grow your money you first need to establish the amount of risk your willing to take. Low risk, get into bonds or money market accounts and expect about 5-6% annually. Mutual funds will offer the full range from 5-20% on average, but the more gain means the more lost. For the most aggressive risk (and therefore gain) play in individual stocks, options or on forex (foreign exchange currency market).\n\nThe most important thing is to spread your money around, don't lump all your capital into one or two stocks, because your setting yourself up to take major losses. Educate yourself before jumping into anything. Investopedia.com is a good resource for that - just remember that they are supported by various brokers and agencies, so take recommendations lightly. They do, however, provide good solid information on the basics.
43974
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/mutual_funds?cmsid=P-980434&lvl1=research_strategies&lvl2=mutual_funds\n\nIf this is too specific just go to http://www.schwab.com, click on Research then click on 'Mutual Funds'.
199313
Talk to your bank about investing in a mutual fund. Ask for high growth and moderate risk. The reason I suggest this is because it is obvious you know little or nothing of investing, this is what I would buy. You wont see the kind of returns on any other unmanaged investment.\n\nBest Wishes
960657
Just so you know, Mutual funds aren´t for everyone.  Personally, I wouldn´t invest in them unless I had to.  For more detail on that, just do a search for where I´ve addressed this question in other answers.\n\nHowever to answer your question, there are several rankings of mutual funds.  Here are some of the sources with appropriate link.\n\nLots of sources for Mutual fund reports that you´re looking for.  Here are some.\n\nMoney Magazine\nhttp://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestfunds/indexfunds.html\n\nMorningstar\nhttp://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Funds.html?pgid=hetabfunds\n\nKiplingers\nhttp://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/investing/funds/?\n\nMutualFundRankings\nhttp://mutualfundrankings.org/\n\nAnd you may want to take a look at this article on mutual funds too just so you have a little more info if you´ve got tax concerns.\n\nhttp://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/93/930429Arc3288.html\n\nIf you have any questions, please let me know.\n\nHope that helps!\n\n\n\nInfo on mutual funds\nhttp://beginnersinvest.about.com/cs/mutualfunds1/a/aa031501.htm\n\nInvesting for Beginners\nhttp://beginnersinvest.about.com/popular.htm
495287
In simplest terms, mutual funds are just groups of investments.  They can be stocks, or bonds, or a combination of the two.  They can even be investments in real estate (REITs).\n\nIn an active mutual fund, a fund manager decides what to purchase for the fund.  In a stock fund, the manager picks the stocks to buy in hopes that the stocks will go up.  In bond fund, he picks bonds.  In some funds, the manager has the option of choosing between both stock and bonds.  He may even decide buy nothing if he can't find anything worth buying, keeping cash on hand until he finds something worthwhile to buy.\n\nIn an index fund, a fund manager's main job is just to buy the stocks or bonds in an index.  For example, in an S&P 500 stock fund, the manager's job is to buy all the stocks in S&P 500 and hold them.
49036
If you don't want to invest in individual stocks, then you are usually better of with an index fund, or ETF, than a mutual fund. The majority of mutual funds underperform index funds. (it's quite ironic that picking stocks at random would provide better results than most "professionals".)
795327
Hey!  You do not have to invest all your money with just one fund manager.  In fact, that would be somewhat imprudent.  If you like a Fidelity fund, buy some.  Be careful though.  Do not buy funds simillar to those that you already own.  There are plent of good funds available for you from plenty of different companies.  You might even consider a couple of closed end funds, traded like stocks.  Give some thought to TDF which invests in China and IIF which invests in India.  Spread your money around geographically.
1148271
Depends what type of fund, your age, and what your family's goals are. Probably anything middle-risk mutual fund should be fine so long as you and/or your wife have a steady income.\n\nYou should also check with your investing company if they offer a tax deferred college savings program.
164845
I own and recommend the following mutual funds without hesitation to anyone, for any situation and length of time. These are the first funds in which I invested, and I've owned them all for 3.5 to 4 years. I have ranked them from highest to lowest 3 year return.\n\nBUFSX\nCAAPX\nMVALX\nDODBX\nOAKBX\n\nI advise you to do your own research and comparisons at Morningstar.com.
221386
Fidelity Diversified International Fund.\n\nI've been doing VERY well with it.  The fast growth is going to be found overseas for the next 10 years or so, so put some money to work outside the US.  Keep yourself diversified, but if you're not overseas, this is a good choice.  [note, if you do lose money, I'm sorry but I will too]
265983
Diversified stocks is the fastest, but the most risky.  Most people try a mix of stocks and bonds.  The more risk you are willing to take the more stocks.  Buying mutual funds is usually best.  I like vanguard.com and fool.com for advice.  Fool.com is somewhat tongue-in-cheek
824382
I believe most mutual funds require $2500 initial investment, so you may be limited in your choice.  I would get a copy of Money  magazine and look at their listings of mutual funds to see which ones allow you to start with $1000.  \nThere will be statistics on all of the funds showing you which ones are doing the best for 1,5, and 10 year periods.\nIf it is for long term investment, I would recommend an S&P 500 index fund like Vanguard index 500, or a growth and income fund.  If you want to gamble  a little for higher returns, you \ncould try an aggressive growth fund.  A good friend of mine has done well with CGM focus fund.\nLook for no-load funds, and ones with the smallest maintainance fees.  These fees don't sound too important but over many years of compounding they are very important.\nPaying a load up front has never been shown to increase your returns on the average (contrary to what some brokers will try to tell you), so don't.\nAnd if you are young, stay away from bond funds; stock funds are much better.  Some of the better companies are Strong, Janus , Fidelity and Vanguard.\nGood luck!
823551
Mutual funds let you start with low amounts. If not knowledgeable an index mutual fund is best + is cheapest in internal cost. Schwab.com or 1 of the others makes opening an account easy. If no IRA - open 1 1st. I would chose a global index fund right now\n. SWINX if going with schwab
41962
Go to bookstore and get Mutual Funds for Dummies or Investing for Dummies.  They will have easy to understand concept and descriptions.  More information is better when it comes to investing.  Take your time.  Start saving money now and get into the habit.  Put it into a savings account now while you are learning about mutual funds.  When you feel ready, then you already have some money saved up.
664117
Mutual funds are actively mangaged...ie, the manager takes everyone's money , pools it, and buys and sells whatever stocks seem like decent buys.\n\nETFs tend to be pretty static, ie, not alot of change in the makeup of them.\n\nETF's prices change throughout the day as the underlying stocks change price. Theoretically, you could buy in the morning and sell in the afternoon and have 2 different prices. Mutual funds TEND to get priced once a day, after the closing bell.\n\nWith much less turnover, you won't get capital gains distributions from ETFs like you would mutual funds.\n\nETFs trade like stocks...but they are "stocks" made up of other stocks.\n\nETFs are really popular now and getting more popular. Expenses TEND to be lower...if you can find some you like...that might be the route to go.