There are many ways for investors to invest in the market today. One of the ways is investing in Mutual funds. Mutual funds also give good opportunities to investors to invest in the market. Investing in mutual funds for a short period always carries the risk of loss of returns, primarily when investing in equity-oriented funds, except in balance and debt funds. But the returns on long-term investments in the last few years cannot be ignored. Therefore, long-term investments in mutual funds are attracting a lot of investors. First, in this type of investment, one's money is kept safe, and secondly, it also gives them good returns.

 

What is Mutual Fund?

Mutual funds can be defined as a fund that professionals manage and pool money from different investors and invest it in securities such as bonds, stocks, or debt. Now let's say you want to invest in the stock market but don't know which stock will give more returns, so you go to a mutual fund-associated organization, and they will help you invest in it. Now your fund manager will choose the best fund for you and puts your money in it. It is to say that the manager will put a small portion of your money into each stock, and you will receive your returns collectively. The investors in these funds are usually ordinary people and institutional investors too who invest a large amount of money in the mutual funds.

Mutual fund investments can be very difficult to make as Mutual funds tend to give high and steady returns, but they are very prone to the ongoing trend in the market. You may have heard the phrase "mutual funds are subject to market risks." Well, the phrase is for this condition only. If the prices of the stocks go high (bullish trend), the value of mutual funds also goes high, and when the prices of stocks go down (bearish trend), the value of the mutual funds will go low too. This connection between the market and mutual funds makes it difficult for investors to choose the right fund for them.

 

 

Why Mutual Funds?

People with great experience investing their money on different platforms always suggest that mutual fund investments are the best. The reasons which tell us so are:

• By choosing mutual funds, you get away from the critical decision-making you do when you choose a stock. It saves plenty of time, and you live tension-free while investing in mutual funds.
• When we invest our money in something, we only want higher and steady returns, and over the years, mutual funds have given their investors high and steady returns, so if you go with mutual funds, you are sure that your money is going to increase in upcoming future very steadily.
• Diversification is a unique advantage of mutual funds. The options we get when we invest in mutual funds, whether stocks or debts have a lot of variety, and most give good returns.

 

Types of Mutual Funds

A mutual fund can be classified based on various characteristics. Below mentioned are the types of Mutual Funds-

I. Based on Investment Goals

A. Growth Funds

B. Income Funds

C. Liquid Funds

D. Tax Savings Funds

E. Aggressive Growth Funds

F. Capital Protection Funds

G. Fixed Maturity Funds

H. Pension Funds

 

II. Based on Asset Class

A. Equity Funds

B. Debt Funds

C. Money Market Funds

D. Hybrid Funds

 

 

III. Based on Structure

A. Open-Ended Funds

B. Close-Ended Funds

C. Interval Funds

 

IV. Based on Risk

A. Very Low-Risk Funds

B. Low-Risk Funds

C. Medium Risk Funds

D. High-Risk Funds

 

V. Specialized Funds

A. Sector Funds

B. Index Funds

C. Funds of Funds

D. Emerging Market Funds

E. International Foreign Funds

F. Global Funds

G. Real Estate Funds

H. Commodity-focused stock funds

I. Market Neutral Funds

J. Leverage Funds

K. Asset Allocation Funds

L. Gift Funds

M. Exchange-traded Funds.

 

Advantages of Mutual Funds

Mutual funds offer professional investment management and potential Diversification. They also offer three ways to earn money:

Dividend Payments- A fund may earn income from dividends on stock or interest on bonds. The fund then pays the shareholders nearly all the income, less expenses.

Capital Gains Distributions- A fund's securities price may increase. When a fund sells a security that has increased in price, the fund has a capital gain. At the end of the year, the fund distributes these capital gains, minus any capital losses, to investors.

Increased NAV- If the market value of a fund's portfolio increases after deducting expenses, then the value of the fund and its shares increases. The higher NAV reflects the higher value of your investment.

 

 

The Risk involved in Mutual Funds

All funds carry some level of risk. For example, with mutual funds, you may lose some or all of the money you invest because the securities held by a fund can go down in value. Dividends or interest payments may also change as market conditions change. A fund's past performance is not as important as you might think because past performance does not predict future returns. But past performance can tell you how volatile or stable a fund has been over a period of time. The more volatile the fund, the higher the investment risk.

 

Wrapping Up

By analyzing the present trend of the market in these years and the upcoming ones, we can say that mutual funds are the real way to go. If you're a beginner in investing and want your money to grow, then you can choose mutual funds as your option.