Mutual Funds / Investing Question, Please Assist?
439706
I like Legg Mason Partners Funds (formerly called Smith Barney). I invest in LMP Aggressive Growth, LMP Fundamental Value, and LMP Appreciation Fund. These are known as "3 Fund Approach." Why? Just like you don't want to invest all your money into one stock, you don't want to invest your money all in one mutual fund (even though it invests 25 to 300 different companies). How you want to diversify your money is up to you, but I put about 33% into all.\n\nMy dealer is PFS Investments and they don't charge any fees to use their services. You can buy or redeem your shares online. You can check the value of your portfolio anytime online too. Oh yeah, make sure the agent is properly licensed and ask about the complimentary financial need analysis (a very useful financial tool).\n\nAnyway, no matter how you invest, don't pull out if the stock market crashes because you know stock market will always rebound (base on past performance).
1001149
to learn about mutual funds and the stock market go to investopedia.com or the motelyfool.com. they will tell you everything you need to know
388299
Mutual funds are a group of investors, that usually don't have enough money at one time, pooling there money together to maximize their buying power and  with more money they buy many different stocks in many different companies so that they limit their risk of loss by not investing in one company( or putting your eggs in one basket) Do to the fact that they pool their money the mutual fund can then afford a professional fund manager to pick which stocks, bonds, or money markets to invest in.  Also there are many types of funds, some balanced meaning they invest in all three, stocks, bonds, and money markets, simultaneously and some invest all in stocks, or bonds, or money markets individually. Anyway that is another big discussion. I hope that this helps you out.\n\nRemember mutual funds will never have the big returns of individual stocks but there wont be the losses either.\n\nAverage gains of 8% to 12% over the life of the fund should not be too hard to get.
325356
Here is what I suggest. Go to Yahoo mutual fund screen. And imput the parameters of the type of fund you wish to consider and see what pops up. \n\nHere is the link.\n\nThe second link is one of the screens I ran. It shows funds that are no load, with low initial investment that are ranked at least 4 star by Morningstar and are in the top 30% for one year performance.
450413
First I recommend, be patient.  No need to make any quick decision(s).  Keep an open mind, and listen to suggestions.  Think for yourself then, and you will make the appropriate decision.  Look at your circumstances.  If it is a windfall, and not needed right now, take $10000 of it and find a no-load mutual fund as an investment.  Then leave it alone and your investment ought to double about every 7 years.  That is what us "little" people do.  A no-load fund means, no fees to buy and no charges when you sell later on.  Hold the remaining $5000 and think some more.
192317
Unlikely that kind of growth in mutual funds.  They are for safe, slower growth investing.  You would need something volitile, like oil stock to make that much money that quickly, and you stand to lose money that way.
722674
Your best bet is a no load mutual fund. But you need to be a little selective. I have run a yahoo screen of candidate mutual funds for you to consider. \n\nThe best results come with having a quarterly, some say monthly, investment plan--say add $100 to $200 quarterly. That way you average out the market swings buying less stock when the market is up and more when the market is down. \n\nNote: mutual funds have a year end distribution of realized gains. It is best to purchase right after the distribution because the price reflects the amount distributed.
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.
536777
Visit \nhttp://www.mutualfundsindia.com/
636721
Wow.  Some incredibly terrible advice so far.  Buy a no-load fund because they're free?  Would you go to a barber that gave out free haircuts?  How about a doctor who gave free colonoscopies?  Just because they're FREE doesn't necessarily mean they're any GOOD.  Loads (commissions) work like this: If you're going to someone for advice, you're going to compensate them for their time and expertise.  If you're going to do all your own research, and put in the time, then by all means, consider no-load funds--if and only if they meet your particular objectives. And if you ARE going to go it on your own, make sure you have the tools, time, and talent to stay the course.  And of course the discipline, which might be the hardest one.  Minimizing expenses is definitely key, but there are many, many super-high quality "load" mutual funds that have lower fees than "no-load" mutual funds.  Oh yes.  And better returns too.  Check the fund's annual expenses, which yo udon't pay out of pocket and hence can fly under the radar.  That's the money they deduct from your return whether they've made money or not.  Ideally, what you want is a combination of low expenses, a proven track record of beating the index, and a well-founded expectation that they will continue to do so (not just because you "feel" they will).  Of course, there are very good offerings no matter which camp go with, and MANY more terrible ones.  So do your research, either way.  \n\nAs far as buying certain sectors because they're "hot", wow, perhaps even worse advice.  Gold was at $250 an ounce and more than doubled to $660, a price unseen in, like, forever.  So where do you think it's more likely to go?  Up or down?  Gimme a break.\n\nAs a matter of fact, let's say you don't even have a crystal ball, and so you have no opinion on where gold is going.  Or stocks.  Or real estate.  Or bonds.  What's a sensible investor to do?\n\nBuy a diversified series of QUALITY mutual funds. The one good advice I saw was that owning individual stocks is just way too risky.  In many cases, it's more akin to gambling than investing.  So go with funds, which are much more diversified, and therefore spread the risk among many, many more holdings.  The key, of course, is buying quality.  So make sure you hit ALL the asset classes, like Large cap stocks, small/mid cap stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, government debt, corporate debt, hi-yield debt, foreign debt, emerging markets debt, real estate, commodities, and precious metals. That's 12 categories right there, so with $1200, you're talking about $100 each.  This is called asset allocation, and it's a step beyond simple "diversification", which most idiots think is buying a hardware tech stock AND a software tech stock.  \n\nAdd systematically on a monthly basis. Soon you won't even care what any of the markets are doing.  They're up? Great!  Some of my investments are worth more.  They're down? Great! Now I'm buying quality investments at an "on sale" price.\n\nThen sit back and re-balance each year, back to your original percentages. Again, this is called asset allocation. It's is very important, perhaps the most important thing you can do with your money.  The thinking being, what's BEEN hot is more than likely not going to STAY hot.  All markets are cyclical.  There's hundreds of years of data to back this up.  Yet some people still think they can ride the next hot wave.  They usually wind up begging on the street for beer money.\n\nNow, this sort of portfolio should average 8-12% per year, so just split the difference and say 10% on average. Will it do 10% EVERY year? Of course not. I'd be surprised if it ever did EXACTLY 10%. That's an annual average. With that average, your money should double roughly every 7 years.\nSo, if you're starting
219721
Stop shopping so much.  Save the money you save in a diversified mutual fund.  You'll make money and exert less effort.
398114
There are lots of mutual funds that will take $100 to get you started.  So a search in Yahoo Finance or MSN for funds that start with a min investment of $100.  I have been an investment advisor for over 23 years.
348676
Hello,\nWelcome to the investment world.\nSince you do not have a prior experiance of investment then forget about managing your own portfolio. Choose to invest in any mutual funds.  One thing you have to keep in mind is the higher the return on the fund, the riskier it is. so whats your risk level?\nSome mutual fund are made for capital gain and some for dividends(income)... so which one do you prefere?\n\nYou might want a fund that is focused on hot secters like: oil, gas, biotech, hightech... the future is looking good for these sectors. \nI have put my money with Fidelity, TD waterhouse(canada).. in a very risky aggressive funds and they showed handsome returns...\n\nhope this will help..!\nSpecialist$$$
470243
A mutual fund is simply a financial intermediary that allows a group of investors to pool their money together with a predetermined investment objective. The mutual fund will have a fund manager who is responsible for investing the pooled money into specific securities (usually stocks or bonds). When you invest in a mutual fund, you are buying shares (or portions) of the mutual fund and become a shareholder of the fund. \n\nMutual funds are one of the best investments ever created because they are very cost efficient and very easy to invest in (you don't have to figure out which stocks or bonds to buy). \n\nBy pooling money together in a mutual fund, investors can purchase stocks or bonds with much lower trading costs than if they tried to do it on their own. But the biggest advantage to mutual funds is diversification.
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
1110578
A mutual fund is an open end investment company under the Investment Company Act.\n\nIn other words, it is a fund that continuously offers its shares and continuously redeems them to meet an investment purpose.  \n\nAn example might help.  XYZ Fund has, as its investment purpose, a duty to invest at least 65% of its assets in foreign company stocks.  It has 1,253,612 shares on July 1 valued at 10.03 per share.  On July 2nd, Mr and Mrs Smith send $1000 to buy shares in XYZ Fund.  The value per share at the close of business was 10.05 per share on July 2nd.  On July 3rd, their shares are purchased at $1000/$10.05 for 99.502 shares.  Mutual funds issue fractional shares.  On July 3rd, the fund now has 1,253,711.502 shares.  The price on July 3rd fell dramatically to $9.57 per share due to a fall in the SENSEX market.  This causes panic for the August family who call on July 5th, due to the holiday, to sell their 953.26 shares.  The value of the fund at the close of July 5th was 9.03 per share.  On July 8th, due to the weekend, the August family is sent a check for 8607.94.  The fund now has1,252,758.242 shares.  The value due to continued slide is now 8.96 per share.  The value of the Smith's investment is now $891.53.\n\nUnmentioned above is the concept of load and no-load.  A load fund pays a commission to a salesman out of our proceeds either when you buy or when you sell.  A no load fund pays an introduction fee to a broker to open your shares but it is paid as a general operating expense of all pre-existing shareholders and is hidden in the disclosures.
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".)