Mutual Funds Kansas

Almost half of all households in the United States invest in mutual funds.* Whether you are part of that group or considering investing for the first time, it’s important to understand the fundamentals of this widely held investment product.

Introduction to Mutual Funds

When you invest in a mutual fund, your money is combined with the money of many other investors. Professional fund managers use this pool of money to create a portfolio of investments, which may include:

• Stocks: ownership shares in publicly held companies
• Bonds: interest-bearing certificates issued by governments and corporations 
• Money Market Securities: short-term instruments, such as U.S. Treasury bills and certificates of deposit, that mature in less than one year
  

Each mutual fund has specific investment goals that can range from long-term growth to current income. In addition, a fund may invest in specific types of investments to reach its goals, such as dividend-paying stocks, international investments or long-term bonds.

Owning shares of a mutual fund is similar in some ways to owning shares of stock in an individual company. The mutual fund company will ask you to vote for its board of directors and to help determine other company matters. The mutual fund also may pay you dividends from the securities in which it invests or capital gains that the fund made from selling securities.

Meaning of Share Price and Total Return

A mutual fund’s share price, which is referred to as its net asset value or NAV, is determined at each day’s market close. The price reflects the closing value of all of the investments the fund holds in its portfolio on that day.

Like stocks, the daily price of a mutual fund may go up or down. A fund’s share price can give you an idea of how a fund is performing on a day-to-day basis.

A fund’s total return shows you how much the fund’s shares appreciated or depreciated over the long term and takes into account any distributions of dividends or capital gains. Total return generally is stated as an annual percentage rate.

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