Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Why you should Choose Mutual Funds

By Samantha Asher

You should be investing your money. It's as simple as that. Instead of wasting your cash on coffee and iTunes you should be buying stocks, bonds, and other securities. You might think it's easier said than done, but it actually is pretty easy to do. Once you get the willpower to start saving your money and have money to invest, you can start researching the best investment for you.

If you haven't started investing yet, you probably don't know much about it. Fortunately, you don't need to be a financial genius or college professor to start investing. You don't have to even know the intricacies of stocks or bonds, there is an easier way.

Stock investing takes research, and lots of it. Most people aren't able or willing to put in the amount of time it takes to start effectively investing in stocks. That's okay, you don't have to put that much time into it. You can invest in mutual funds. A mutual fund is when many people put their money together and invest it all together. A professional money manager chooses the stocks and bonds to invest in, which ensures diversification.

Sound expensive? It can be, but it doesn't have to be. There are load funds that charge lots of fees, but you can get no-load fees that charge nothing, hence the name 'no-load'. Just because they don't charge fees doesnt mean they are bad investments either.

With mutual funds that charge a commission, you lose a percentage of your earnings where as with no-load funds, you get all of your return. So even if the loaded fund has a higher return, you might still be making less with it.

There is risk in investing in stocks and bonds. Diversification will help reduce that risk and this can best be achieved through mutual funds. With a mutual fund you can be invested in hundreds of different stocks and/or bonds. Even with just a little bit of money, you can get started investing in a mutual fund.

When you diversify with many different stocks, you reduce risk. The works because if one goes down, you most likely will have another that goes up, still resulting in a gain. The more diversified you are, the less risk you have, but the less risk, the less you'll probably make, so keep that in mind.

You can invest with as little as $1,000 and you can get started in investing with little to no experience if you choose to go with mutual funds. Don't waste your time researching stocks, invest in mutual funds instead.

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