Advantages
What are the key advantages of mutual fund investing?
Diversification
Using mutual funds can help an investor diversify their portfolio with a minimum investment. When investing in a single fund, an investor is actually investing in numerous securities. Spreading your investment across a range of securities can help to reduce risk. A stock mutual fund, for example, invests in many stocks - hundreds or even thousands. This minimizes the risk attributed to a concentrated position. If a few securities in the mutual fund lose value or become worthless, the loss maybe offset by other securities that appreciate in value. Further diversification can be achieved by investing in multiple funds which invest in different sectors or categories. This helps to reduce the risk associated with a specific industry or category. Diversification may help to reduce risk but will never completely eliminate it. It is possible to lose all or part of your investment.
Reliance Mutual Fund
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Mutual FundsClick here to see an example on constructing a diversified portfolio.
Professional Management:
Mutual funds are managed and supervised by investment professionals. As per the stated objectives set forth in the prospectus, along with prevailing market conditions and other factors, the mutual fund manager will decide when to buy or sell securities. This eliminates the investor of the difficult task of trying to time the market. Furthermore, mutual funds can eliminate the cost an investor would incur when proper due diligence is given to researching securities. This cost of managing numerous securities is dispersed among all the investors according to the amount of shares they own with a fraction of each dollar invested used to cover the expenses of the fund. What does this mean? Fund managers have more money to research more securities more in depth than the average investor.
Convenience:
With most mutual funds, buying...