fund/banks/interest?

 

  • muncie birder 8:56 pm on September 7, 2010

    There are all different kinds of mutual funds. Some invest in equities, some invest in debt instruments. Of those 2 categories that are many many sub categories. How they work: You send the mutual fund company a check. They invest that money in the fund you select. They manage the fund buying and selling securities as they think best. For doing so they charge you a fee, 0.5% to 2.5% of the net assets of the fund depending on the fund. At year end if the fund has realized gains, they send you a check your portion of the amount they have realized. That is the bad part because you have to pay taxes on that amount. Some funds have more realized gains than others. Index funds have very little because they do not sell their stocks and take profits.

    You can buy funds directly from the fund companies. That is generally the most economical way. There are several that have very good funds with relatively low management fees, less than 1% of assets.

    Here are 3:

    T Rowe Price
    http://mutualfunds.troweprice.com/?rfpgid=10875&scn=Mutual_Fund_I_Want_to&origins=prospect

    Vanguard
    https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsByType

    Fidelity
    http://personal.fidelity.com/products/funds/funds_frame.shtml.cvsr

    There are other fund groups also, but these 3 have a large selection of funds many of which have very good to excellent historical returns.

    You can apply on line and send them a check.

  • Burt Whitley 8:56 pm on September 7, 2010

    http://finance.yahoo.com/funds

    Great, start learning the basics of fundamentals and technical analysis so you will be more informed in your investments. Until then you can find all the basic info you need to learn on websites for free.
    This site should give you a good start.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/education

    If your current/future employer offers an employee 401k plan. Invest up to the matching % of your employers contribution. If plan offers an election to invest in a money market fund you may want to invest in it until you learn more. Next invest in a Roth IRA up to the max allowed(yearly). If you then have more money to invest, go back to your 401k plan and invest the max allowed(yearly). So after you do all the above and want to invest more you should be able to decide how. Only invest money that you can afford to lose. Making some quick money is nice but if you lose it, it gets right ugly.

    You may also think about ETF’s instead of mutual funds, stocks. and options.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/etf

    Try what you learn on demo sites. They can be a very fun but educational way to learn from mistakes. If you pick 75% right with play money then you might be ready to start slowly investing.
    http://simulator.investopedia.com/
    http://simulator.zacks.com/
    http://www.fxcm.com/open-free-100k.jsp
    http://www.alpari-idc.com/en/metatrader4...
    Or just google for more.

    I use Lightning Strikes Trading System for trading in any time frame and it works on forex, stocks, bonds, etf’s, mutual funds, etc… They have 3 free training sessions a week and you don’t have to buy the software to join in the live chat and text. You can even watch some recorded past live sessions. Here are some past charts that I used.
    http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16R0zjjaZ...
    http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16RxjOUQt...
    There are 7 indicators (2 short, 2 medium, and 3 long term) and if volume is reported another one is added (on balance volume). Plus whatever time-frame is used the 2 green horizontal lines are the support and resistance for that time frame. So when indicators are all touching the bottom price is at or very, very near support. At top is at or very, very near resistance. Which helps my entry/exits and risk/reward ratio.
    http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16R9Wv-wt...
    http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16R9wSKdV...
    http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/QCt6R2fYIj6...
    http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/QCt6R3R0VQe...
    If you can not view charts above I can email them.

    Here are my favorite sites.

    http://stockcharts.com/
    Has basically all you need from fundamental to technical terms. Plus stock screens, charts, public chart lists, and much more useful info.

    https://www.fidelity.com/
    Has good learning resources.

    http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp
    In addition to yahoo finance.

    http://www.reuters.com/
    For news and more.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/default.aspx
    For news and more.

    http://www.valueprime.com/index.php
    For rating stock risk/reward ratio and reports.

    http://www.barchart.com/
    For investing in more than stocks.

    http://www.investopedia.com/
    For more great learning tools.

    http://www.lightninglive.com/
    For best software timing your entry/exits any time frame for day traders and long term investors.

    Others worth exploring.
    http://www.equis.com/
    http://www.stockta.com/
    http://www.secform4.com/

    Best Wishes,
    Burt Whitley

  • Common Sense 8:56 pm on September 7, 2010

    The answers you’ve received (so far) are pretty good. so allow me to simply add;

    Read a couple of books on Mutual Funds. The "dummy" series should be one of them.

    Never invest in Mutual Funds that are;
    Recommended by a bank or insurance company.
    A proprietary fund by a broker.

  • Saw V 8:56 pm on September 7, 2010

    These funds are a type of security that can be traded on the stock market, allowing shareholders to buy and sell shares in the funds. The revenue generated by purchase of shares is used by mutual fund manager to buy more shares of specific stocks, bonds, and other market securities and money market instruments.

    Since the prices of the stocks, bonds, and other securities held by the mutual fund vary, the value of the fund changes. The average value of every share of the mutual fund is fixed daily based on the total value of the underlying securities held by the fund.

    This involves the shareholders of a mutual fund directly with their investment as against those who just buy individual securities and observe as the prices fluctuate.
    http://debts-to-wealth.com/category/Guide-to-Mutual-Funds.html