A vehicle for investing in stocks and bonds. A mutual fund is not an alternative investment option to stocks and bonds, rather it pools the money of several investors and invests this in stocks, bonds, money market instruments and other types of securities. The owner of a mutual fund unit gets a proportional share of the fund’s gains, losses, income, and expenses.
Each mutual fund has a specific stated objective
The fund’s objective is laid out in the fund’s prospectus, which is the legal document that contains information about the fund, its history, its officers and its performance.
Some popular objectives of a mutual fund are –
Fund Objective – What the fund will invest in
Equity (Growth): Only in stocks
Debt (Income): Only in fixed-income securities
Money Market (including Gilt): In short-term money market instruments (including government securities)
Balanced: Partly in stocks and partly in fixed-income securities, in order to maintain a ‘balance’ in returns and risk
Managed by an Asset Management Company (AMC)
The company that puts together a mutual fund is called an AMC. An AMC may have several mutual fund schemes with similar or varied investment objectives. The AMC hires a professional money manager, who buys and sells securities in line with the fund’s stated objective.
All AMC’s Regulated by SEBI, Funds governed by Board of Directors
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mutual fund regulations require that the fund’s objectives are clearly spelt out in the prospectus. In addition, every mutual fund has a board of directors that is supposed to represent the shareholders’ interests, rather than the AMC’s.
Why Choose Mutual Funds?
Mutual funds are investment vehicles, and you can use them to invest in asset classes such as equities or fixed income. We recommend that you use the mutual fund investment route rather than invest yourself unless you have the required temperament, aptitude and technical knowledge.
We are not all investment professionals
We go to a doctor when we need medical advice or a lawyer for legal guidance. Similarly, mutual funds are investment vehicles managed by professional fund managers. And unless you rate highly on the Investment IQ Quiz, we recommend you use this option for investing. Mutual funds are like professional money managers, however, a key factor in their favor is that they are more regulated and hence offer investors the ability to analyze and evaluate their track record.
Investing is becoming more complex
There was a time when things were quite simple – the market went up with the arrival of the first monsoon showers and every year around Diwali. Since India started integrating with the world (with the start of the liberalization process), complex factors such as an increase in short-term US interest rates, the collapse of the Brazilian currency or default on its debt by the Russian government, have started having an impact on the Indian stock market.
Although it is possible for an individual investor to understand Indian companies (and investing) in such an environment, the process can become fairly time-consuming. Mutual funds (whose fund managers are paid to understand these issues and whose asset management company invests in research) provide an option of investing without getting lost in the complexities.
Mutual funds provide risk diversification
Diversification of a portfolio is amongst the primary tenets of portfolio structuring. And a necessary one to reduce the level of risk assumed by the portfolio holder. Most of us are not necessarily well qualified to apply the theories of portfolio structuring to our holdings and hence would be better off leaving that to a professional. Mutual funds represent one such option.
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