What is the motive for a company to start a mutual fund ?
540720
It is a service oriented business. Remember the company which runs the asset management company doesn't own the money and hence it is not their money. It collects money from investors and invests and produces returns.  A good return compared to the competitor means more investors willing to invest their money with that AMC and hence more profit for the management.\n\nI think you got the feeling because you thought it is AMC's money but in reality it is simply a trust doing investment on behalf of all the small investors and by pooling through small amount it builds-up a big asset to be influential and makes the best out of available opportunities.\n\nHope that answers your question in a better way.\n\nGood luck.
134144
A mutual fund is a form of collective investment that pools money from many investors and invests the money in stocks, bonds, short-term money-market instruments, and/or other securities. Legally known (in the US) as an "open-end company," a mutual fund is one of three basic types of investment companies available in the US.\n\nThe portfolio manager trades the fund's underlying securities, realizing a gain or loss, and collects the dividend or interest income. The investment proceeds are then passed along to the individual investors. There are more mutual funds than there are individual stocks.
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
173961
A mutual fund is a collection of some kind of investment, usually stocks. They’re extremely popular. Your parents own at least one mutual fund if they’ve ever worked at a company. Mutual funds work like this: You pick a fund you like (e.g., growth, value, technology, international…), buy shares of the fund, and let a money manager pick the stocks he thinks will yield the best return. In exchange for this diversification and his expertise, you pay an annual fee. \n\nAdvantages: Hands-off approach means an expert money manager makes investment decisions for you. Mutual fund (ostensibly) holds many varied stocks, so if one company tanks, your fund doesn’t go down with it (i.e., it’s “diversified”).\n\nDisadvantages: Annual fees can equal tens of thousands of dollars or more (!) over the lifetime of an investment. If you invest in two mutual funds, they may overlap in investments, yielding a less-diversified portfolio than you really think. In other words, if both funds hold Microsoft and Microsoft tanks, you get hit twice. Although you’re paying an expert to manage your money, they rarely beat the market—the mutual fund industry’s dirty secret!\n\nMuch more clear info in the link below :)
308158
There probably isn't a Water Resource Mutual Fund; However there is a Water Resource ETF. It's Powershares Water Resources, the ticker is PHO. I think the fund has what your looking for, they invest in water resource companies. You can read the prospectus at www.powershares.com
870260
Vanguard is one of the three largest mutual fund companies in the world (varies between them, Fidelity, and American Funds), they have been around for decades and have nearly $1 Trillion under management.  It is probably the best place to go for someone starting out.  \n\nI used to do consulting for them, while it doesn't seem like the best place to work (low salaries and numbers on the cubicles), they are one of the best mutual fund companies.
998333
If you are from India, check out the  link below. \n\nBasically, they are a pooling of investors that would rather have someone else do their investing for them.  They give their money to a mutual fund manager and the manager does the investing. For a fee, of course.  There are all types of mutual funds. Ones that invest in growth stocks, ones that invest in bonds, ones that invest in undervalued stocks, ones that invest in foreign stocks, and relatively new, ones that invest in a market average.  The last came about because mutual funds in general--70%--could not get a better return than the market in general. \n\nThat does not mean that all mutual funds are bad. But is does mean that you have to do your home work before buying one.  You can get your money back by just giving them a phone call or sending a request over the internet. Some mutual funds are sold by stock brokers and the funds are held by the broker and you sell them by calling the broker.  Every year at year end the mutual fund distributes the money that they realized on their investments.  That has pluses and minuses.  The plus is that you get the money. The minus is that you have to pay taxes on it. The index funds do not distribute so much because they do not sell their investments so often. So they are an advantage in that respect.
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.
69870
Well, like stocks, there are lots of them and not all of them are good investments.\n\nThe costs associated with mutual funds can still be high, even though they are "no-load" stocks (in other words there are still management fees that may be excessive).\n\nA disadvantage of all mutual funds, but which may be an issue with no-loads because people think there is "no-cost" to get into them, is that people may overdiversify (buy too many different kinds of mutual funds).\n\nSome mutual funds, although not restricted to no-loads, may put a lot of your investment aside as "cash equivalents" to allow for liquidity, which means that you could have more of your money not working for you in an investment.
445692
Mutual Funds are public, hedge funds are private.  Both require groups of investors, but hedge funds have few investors.
599603
ADVANTAGES\n\nWhat are the key advantages of mutual fund investing?\n\nDiversification\n\nUsing mutual funds can help an investor diversify their portfolio with a minimum investment.  When investing in a single fund, an investor  is actually investing in numerous securities.  Spreading your investment across a range of securities can help to reduce risk.  A stock mutual fund, for example, invests in many stocks - hundreds or even thousands.  This minimizes the risk attributed to a concentrated position.  If a few securities in the mutual fund lose value or become worthless, the loss maybe offset by other securities that appreciate in value.  Further diversification can be achieved by investing in multiple funds which invest in different sectors or categories.  This helps to reduce the risk associated with a specific industry or category.  Diversification may help to reduce risk but will never completely eliminate it.  It is possible to lose all or part of your investment.\n\n Professional Management:\n\nMutual funds are managed and supervised by investment professionals.  As per the stated objectives set forth in the prospectus, along with prevailing market conditions and other factors, the mutual fund manager will decide when to buy or sell securities.  This eliminates the investor of the difficult task of trying to time the market.  Furthermore, mutual funds can eliminate the cost an investor would incur when proper due diligence is given to researching securities.  This cost of managing numerous securities is dispersed among all the investors according to the amount of shares they own with a fraction of each dollar invested used to cover the expenses of the fund.  What does this mean?  Fund managers have more money to research more securities more in depth than the average investor.  \n\nConvenience:\n\nWith most mutual funds, buying and selling shares, changing distribution options, and obtaining information can be accomplished conveniently by telephone, by mail, or online.\n\nAlthough a fund's shareholder is relieved of the day-to-day tasks involved in researching, buying, and selling securities, an investor will still need to evaluate a mutual fund based on investment goals and risk tolerance before making a purchase decision.  Investors should always read the prospectus carefully before investing in any mutual fund.\n\nLiquidity:\n\nMutual fund shares are liquid and orders to buy or sell are placed during market hours.  However, orders are not executed until the close of business when the NAV (Net Average Value) of the fund can be determined.  Fees or commissions may or may not be applicable.  Fees and commissions are determined by the specific fund and the institution that executes the order.\n\nMinimum Initial Investment:\n\nMost funds have a minimum initial purchase of $2,500 but some are as low as $1,000.  If you purchase a mutual fund in an IRA, the minimum initial purchase requirement tends to be lower.  You can buy some funds for as little as $50 per month if you agree to dollar-cost average, or invest a certain dollar amount each month or quarter.\n\n \n\nDISADVANTAGES \n\nRisks and Costs:\n\nChanging market conditions can create fluctuations in the value of a mutual fund investment.\n\nThere are fees and expenses associated with investing in mutual funds that do not usually occur when purchasing individual securities directly.\n\nAs with any type of investment, there are drawbacks associated with mutual funds. \n\nNo Guarantees.  The value of your mutual fund investment, unlike a bank deposit, could fall and be worth less than the principle initially invested. And, while a money market fund seeks a stable share price, its yield fluctuates, unlike a certificate of deposit. In addition, mutual funds are not insured or guaranteed by an agency of the U.S. government.  Bond funds, unlike purchasing a bond directly, will not re-pay the principle at a set point in time. \n\nThe Diversification "Penalty."
1096968
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.
1030534
1) to create value for shareholders\n\nthis can be done by keeping tabs on the amount of and cost of debt (sometimes more debt is better, actually).  included in this is not only taking and paying loans, but also re-purchasing outstanding shares.  \n\nbeyond this, financial managers may buy insurance on the company's assets and operations and may also "hedge" to ensure stable cash-flows.
754152
Try link: \nhttp://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020517/biz.htm .\n\nor\n\nhttp://mutualfunds.about.com/od/mutualfundfraud/ .\n\nIt might be of some help.
75811
A fund that can sell stocks short. (Mutual funds cannot do it)
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.
158989
Most of the mutual funds from big names firms are overpriced and underperform. Check out the performance and fees from the fund you bought with its peers. You could use the fund comparison tool at Vanguard.com or one of many discount brokers. I bet you find that Smith Barney takes a big chunk of your investment as fees and commissions and underperforms as well.\n\nread bobbrinker.com website for more unbiased views on investing and no load mutual funds. Also Growth Fund Research Inc. has an incredible recent track record in mutual fund advisory. NO LOADS>