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Locating
a Mutual Fund
To
assist you in locating a mutual fund for your portfolio:
Top
15 Mutual Funds
Customer
Service
The
information contained herein is for information purposes only
and does not constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy
or sell any securities. The company offers a comprehensive
array of financial services. For more information on any product
or service under consideration, request more information,
literature, or prospectus which contains information on product
objectives, sales charges, and product risk.
Using Mutual Funds In Your Portfolio
If you want
to invest in the stock market but don’t have a large
enough portfolio to achieve the diversity you want through
individual stock purchases, mutual funds may provide the solution
you are looking for.
Mutual funds are a collection of stocks
designed to meet a stated investment objective or strategy.
For instance, you may be able to choose between a fund that
holds small- or mid-sized companies, large blue chip companies,
or government bonds. Some funds are designed to provide growth,
others to give you income.
Fully diversified mutual funds can offer
you access to more than 50 individual stocks or bonds. Achieving
a similarly diversified portfolio by purchasing individual
stocks is more difficult and costly. The trading costs for
buying and selling stocks can quickly eat away a smaller portfolio’s
value. This is less of a problem if you have a larger sum
of money to invest.
Understanding the Risks
Mutual funds
provide a stated objective or strategy, giving you some understanding
of the level of risk and the potential for return. You can
get an understanding of the fund’s objective and past
performance by reading its prospectus. But a fund’s stated
objective may not tell you the whole story.
Many funds have a great deal of latitude
in which stocks they may actually buy. Therefore, even if
you own shares of six different funds, each supposedly invested
under a different type of overall objective, you may not be
as diversified as you think. Each of the six funds may hold
shares of the same stock. This would increase your vulnerability
to market corrections, even though you may not be aware of
the risk.
A mutual fund’s performance depends
in large part on its portfolio manager. So, what happens if
the fund’s manager changes his or her strategy during
the investment period or the fund changes managers? Having
an investment advisor who meets regularly with the fund’s
manager to determine his or her strategies and meets with
the fund company to determine its policies for hiring and
maintaining quality portfolio managers can help you minimize
this risk.
Reading a Mutual Fund Prospectus
A mutual fund prospectus should outline these six factors
that allow you to evaluate the fund and its potential place
in your plan.
1. Investment objective. Is the fund
seeking to make money over the long term or to provide investors
with cash each month? You’ll find the answers in this
section of the prospectus.
2. Strategy. This section should spell
out the types of stocks, bonds or other securities the fund
plans to invest in. It may look for small, fast-growing firms
or large, well-established companies. If it’s a bond
fund, it may hold corporate bonds or foreign debt. This section
may also mention any restrictions on what the fund can invest
in.
3. Risks. The prospectus should explain
the risks associated with the fund. For instance, a fund that
invests in emerging markets will be riskier than one investing
in the United States or other developed countries. A bond
fund should also discuss the credit quality of the bonds it
holds and how a change in interest rates may affect those
holdings.
4. Expenses. Different funds have different
sales charges and other fees. The prospectus will spell out
those fees so you can compare them with the fees of other
funds. It should also explain the percentage of the fund’s
return that is deducted each year to pay for management fees
and operation costs.
5. Management. This section may do nothing
more than list the fund manager or managers, or it may give
specific information about the management team’s experience.
If the prospectus doesn’t contain enough detail, you
may be able to find this information in the fund’s annual
report.
Material discussed is meant for general illustration and/or
informational purposes only and it is not to be construed
as tax, legal, or investment advice. Although the information
has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please
note that individual situations can vary therefore, the information
should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional
advice.
Purchasing a Mutual Fund
A trained TWS financial representative
is available to assist you in purchasing a mutual fund that
meets your Investment Goals. Please contact Customer
Service to work with a professional who will help you
find a fund for your portfolio. All links are third party
and you can request a prospectus by calling Trade Wall Street
or the Mutual Fund Family Directly.
With access to
over 200 mutual fund families and more than 6000 separate
fund options, efficiently consolidate your mutual fund investment
activity. Most offer 401k services and other cash management
options. Some of the funds in our participating fund families
include
Mutual Funds Families available at Trade
Wall Street
- Achievement
- Advantus
- Aetna
Funds
- AIM
- Alger
- Alliance
- Alpine
- American
Funds
- American Scandia
- Aquila
- Bartlett
- Bear Stearns
- BlackRock
- Calvert
- Chase Vista
- Colonial
- Conseco
- Countrywide
- Dean Funds
- Delaware/Voyaguer
- Dreyfus
- Davis
- Eaton Vance
- Enterprise
- ESC
- Evergreen
- Federated
- Fidelity
- Fidelity Advisor
- FirstAmerican
- First Investors
- Flag Investors
- Fortis
- Franklin Templeton
- Gabelli
- GAM
- GE Funds
- Goldman Sachs
- Guardian
- Hartford
- Highmark
- Homestate Funds
- HSBC Funds
- IDEX
- ING
- Ivy Mackenzie
- James Advantage
- John Hancock
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- Johnson Family
- JUNDT
- Kemper
- Lexington
- Lord Abbett
- Mainstay
- Mentor
- Metlife/State Street
- MFS
- Monument Funds
- Munder
- Nations Funds
- Navellier
- New England
- Nicholas Applegate
- North American
- Northstar
- Nuveen/Flagship
- Oppenheimer
- Pacific Capital
- Pacific Horizon
- Parnassus
- Parkstone
- Pasadena
- Phoenix
- Pilgrim
- Pillar
- Pimco
- Pioneer
- Principal
- Prudential
- Putnam
- Regional Opportunity
- Robert Stephens
- Safeco Advisor
- Salomon Brothers
- Security Benefit
- Seligman
- Sentinel
- Sogen
- Summit Funds
- SunAmerica
- Thornburg
- Touchstone
- UAM
- Van Eck
- Vkm/Ac/Mrg Stnly
- Zweig
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