Here you’ll find the various types of mutual funds available for investing:
•Loaded Mutual Funds: are sold by full service brokerage firms and carry a fairly steep commission.
•No-Load Mutual Funds: can be purchased directly from the mutual fund family or from discount brokers who handle a large number of different mutual fund families. No-Load Funds can be purchased with no transaction fees or only very small commissions.
•Money Market Funds: offer a place to park money when waiting to make a new investment. They offer interest rates more than double that available from bank savings accounts or checking accounts.
•U.S. Government Bond Funds: invest in U.S. Treasury Bonds, Notes, or Bills. This is a safer form of investing than in other types of bond funds.
•Corporate Bond Funds: invest in the debt obligations of U.S. Corporations. These funds generate higher yields but involve higher risk.
•Municipal Bond Funds: Invest in tax-exempt bonds issued by various States and municipalities. The yield on these investments is generally tax exempt from federal income taxes.
•Stock Funds: invest in common stocks. They can be very broadly diversified or highly concentrated. There are funds that focus on growth, others concentrate on value. Some are index funds. Others are International funds that concentrate their investments outside the United States. Global Funds have holdings both internationally as well as in the United States. There are sector funds that invest in only one sector of the market such as energy, healthcare, or consumer stocks.
•Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs): is the fastest growing segment of the financial industry today. There are over 500 ETFs from which to choose. Exchange Traded Funds offer all of the advantages of Mutual Funds but none of the disadvantages such as minimum holding periods and early redemption fees. They are priced continuously throughout the day and can be purchased and sold just like a stock. Mutual Funds are priced only at the end of the day based on the net asset value of all of the holdings within the fund.
With the multiplicity of Mutual Funds and ETFs from which to choose it is important to have a system for selecting and trading mutual funds that has stood the test of time.