Saturday 30 April 2011

Mutual Funds to Watch in 2011

What is the merit of mutual funds, that a considerable number of people have started opting for it? The basic and the most important advantage of a mutual fund is, professional management, a feature that most of the other investments such as direct stock investments do not have. Mutual funds are manged by a team of experts who are headed by a fund manager. The following paragraph explains the concepts revolving around mutual funds and also lists out some of the best mutual funds for 2011 that are currently in operation and are expected to show a fascinating performance through out the year.

What are Mutual Funds?

A mutual fund is principally a collective investment scheme, that is it is a pool of funds invested by several investors. The invested portion of the fund is known as a 'share' and periodic return or reward of the fund is simple referred to as a 'return'. Fund managers usually invest the pools and funds into, reliable and underwritten sources which offer really good returns. The profits and returns which are earned by the mutual fund are then distributed among its share owners or investors. This is the principle working of the common mutual funds.

Now, there are some differences in different mutual funds such as the rate of returns that are offered by the company, or the structure of investments and repayment of returns. In some cases, the returns of the mutual fund are based upon specified factors such as an index developed by the mutual fund company or indexes of stock exchanges. Alternatively, it might also depend upon different values such as cash values and the net asset value of the fund. All these features are collectively, referred to as the portfolio of the fund. A portfolio may be singular, that is, it may depict your investments only, or it can also be of the entire pool of funds that been used as a collective investment scheme.

Features of a Mutual Fund that Make it a Good One

The next question that is bound to pop up in our minds is, what are the features which make a mutual fund a good one. Here are some leads:

    * The first feature that should be take into consideration is the company and the fund manager who would be managing the fund. The better the reputation the better is the fund. A professional management means that incidences of risky investment would be drastically curbed down.
    * The second point that can be taken into consideration is the fund's portfolio, that is the places and destinations in which the mutual fund is going to be invested into. These destinations include stock exchanges, bonds, money markets, preferential capital, etc. The sectors such as banking, automobile, steel, crude oil and others also substantially influence the returns of the fund. The portfolio should be aggressive but safe.
    * The third most crucial point that needs to be considered is the mutual fund's investment and returns structure. Basically the company providing the mutual fund would give you the structure and also a projection. The returns of the mutual funds are usually made up of two parts, namely, the assured or guaranteed returns and the ones that cannot be guaranteed in some cases, some funds do not have guaranteed returns. Calculate the rate of returns and judge whether the mutual fund sounds to be a suitable investment. Note calculate the return over investment in percentage (%) as it gives a better point of comparison.

Mutual Funds to Watch in 2011

The following is a list of some of the really good mutual funds which have very promising features, great return over investments, excellent projections.

    * Vanguard Wellington
    * Fidelity Contrafund
    * Dreyfus International Bond
    * Fidelity Select Materials
    * Janus Overseas T Fund
    * Primecap Odyssey Growth
    * FPA Crescent
    * American Funds Mutual Fund
    * Vanguard Windsor II Fund
    * Jensen Portfolio
    * AMCAP Fund

Apart from these high performing funds, you may also explore other types of funds on the basis of the aforementioned points. All the needed details are usually disclosed by investment company. I hope that the elaboration on mutual funds to watch in 2011 is resourceful.

No comments:

Post a Comment