The Winter Games for the Olympics are coming up soon and many will want to go to see the giant slalom event. That’s the one where the skier starts off from the little hut at the top of a long slope, picks up speed and makes his way around poles on the way down. Each turn about a pole is precarious and some fall on the way down and are wiped out.

Kinda reminds me of the current stock market. Starting off slowly down from the safety of the top and as it become steeper it picks up speed. Each turn on the way down looks like a place to rally, but shortly thereafter it heads down again at even higher speed. And many are wiped out – financially.

If you are not an expert you should not be on the course. If you are a beginner you better head for the "bunny" course where you won’t get hurt. Safer, not as thrilling, but you will get to the bottom all in one piece. The "bunny" course in the retirement race is all in CDs and T-Bills; however, everything is guaranteed. It takes a long time to get there and you won’t win any gold. You will have some silver.

Many have tried the steep championship financial course and been wiped so they hired an instructor such as a broker or financial planner. It is unfortunate that most of these instructors cannot make it to the gold at the bottom of the hill. How do you make it safely to the bottom with all your cash and yet do better than the CD people?

The next safest place is in no-load mutual funds, but there is a catch. You have to review your mutual funds every month. And what do I mean by that? Review? You must keep yourself from being wiped out on one of those steep downturns by selling any fund that goes below its previous 3-month price level. It is really that simple. If your fund went from $40 to $90 and was then trading at $80 with the previous 3-month low of $70 you would sell it as soon as it closed below $70.

This is as simple as it gets, but it means YOU must DO something and not sit there and watch your money disappear like the melting snow.

The secret of success in the stock market is selling. Learn to protect your profits and also protect yourself from losses when you buy. It’s your money.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

Investors who exclusively use broadly diversified, no load mutual funds for their stock investments often lose out on opportunities to increase the reward potential of their portfolios. This article looks at two methods investors may use to enhance the performance of their portfolio of diversifed, no load mutual funds.

Diversify, diversify, diversify!

Rebalance your portfolio periodically.

These have become the mantra in the post dot-com era. Stocks, bonds, and cash typically form the major asset classes for constructing portfolios of no load mutual funds. Lot of emphasis rightly gets placed on the percentage of assets allocated to no load mutual funds of different asset classes. However, the division of assets within a particular class does not nearly get the attention it should.

All too often, investors exclusively use broadly diversified, no load mutual funds for their stock investments. Fidelity Magellan Fund (Nasdaq: FMAGX) and Fidelity Contrafund Fund (Nasdaq: FCNTX) are examples of popular Fidelity funds investors commonly use. By following this approach, investors often miss out on opportunities to enhance the reward potential of their portfolios.

In a related article, we have looked at how investors can use sector funds to construct a diversified, no load mutual fund portfolio. In this article, we look at how investors can use sector funds to enhance the performance of their portfolio of diversified, no load mutual funds. Although Fidelity funds are presented as examples, the concepts outlined here can be implemented using sector funds managed by other institutions such as Vanguard or T. Rowe Price.

Sector funds confine their investments to a particular sector of the economy. Fidelity funds managed under the Select Portfolios® are sector funds. For example, Fidelity Select Energy (Nasdaq: FSENX) is a no load mutual fund that focuses its investments on various segments of the energy industry such as integrated oil companies, oil and gas exploration and production companies, and oil field service companies.

So how does one use sector funds to increase the performance potential of a portfolio of diversified, no load mutual funds?

Focus on sectors with growth opportunities. An investor having a portfolio of diversified, no load mutual funds may commit a portion of her assets to sector funds that focus on areas having significant growth opportunities, e.g., electronics or software. Some financial professionals call this the ‘core and satellite’ portfolio approach where the diversified, no load mutual fund is the core and the sector fund is the satellite holding. Investments in Fidelity funds like Fidelity Select Electronics (Nasdaq: FSELX) or Fidelity Select Software and Computer Services (Nasdaq: FSCSX) can enable the investor add emphasis on growth sectors such as electronics and software, respectively.

Take a proactive approach to sector investing through sector rotation. Like in the previous case, an investor having a portfolio of diversified, no load mutual funds commits a portion of her assets to sector funds. With this approach, the investor however seeks to maximize the potential of the portion of assets committed to sector funds by periodically switching assets into sectors with higher expected returns.

For example, until not too long ago, major corporations pruned technology related capital spending whereas falling interest rates kept consumer spending strong. To profit from such secular trends, an investor may choose to invest in Fidelity funds such as Select Consumer Industries (Nasdaq: FSCPX) and Select Leisure (Nasdaq: FDLSX) while avoiding Select Technology (Nasdaq: FSPTX). AlphaProfit.com’s research indicates that sector rotation has the potential to outperform the market averages on the basis of relative returns as well as risk-adjusted returns. To employ this approach effectively, you need to understand and follow the dynamics of the individual sectors. You must also be able to make informed decisions on sectors to select and sectors to avoid.

The Impact on Your Portfolio. Strong performance from a portion of assets committed to sector funds can materially enhance the return of your portfolio of no load mutual funds. Fidelity funds such as Select Electronics and Select Software and Computer Services sport 10 year average annual returns of close to 18%; this is nearly twice the 10 year average annual return of 9.4% for the Fidelity Magellan Fund. Using tactical, infrequent rotation of assets among sectors, the AlphaProfit’s Focus™ model portfolio has increased at an average annual rate of 34.4% since 1993.

So what do these return rates translate to you in dollar terms? A $100,000 investment in a diversified, no load mutual fund that grows at 10% per year results in $259,374 at the end of 10 years. If the same $100,000 is divided such that $85,000 is invested in the same diversified, no load mutual fund growing at 10% per year and the remaining $15,000 is invested in sector funds growing at 30% per year, the assets will total $427,256 at the end of 10 years. That is $167,882 or 65% more than the $259,374 resulting in the former case.

Thus by allocating even a relatively small, say 15%, of the total portfolio of no load mutual funds to sector funds, you can dramatically increase your returns.

Key Points to Remember

1. Investors who exclusively use broadly diversified, no load mutual funds for their stock investments often miss out on opportunities to enhance the return of their portfolios.

2. Sector funds can serve as a valuable return enhancing booster for an investor owning a portfolio of diversified, no load mutual funds.

3. Investors may choose to take a passive long-term approach to investing in sector funds that target high growth sectors of the economy. Alternatively, an investor can take a proactive approach to maximize the potential of sector funds by periodically switching assets into sectors with higher expected returns.

4. Investors willing to look beyond broadly diversified, no load mutual funds have a powerful ally in sector funds. Such investors can materially increase portfolio returns by committing a relatively small fraction of their total assets invested in diversified, no load mutual funds to sector funds.

Notes: This report is for information purposes only. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities or to give individual investment advice. This report does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation, and particular needs of any specific person who may receive this report. The information contained in this report is obtained from various sources believed to be accurate and is provided without warranties of any kind. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC does not represent that this information, including any third party information, is accurate or complete and it should not be relied upon as such. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC is not responsible for any errors or omissions herein. Opinions expressed herein reflect the opinion of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC and are subject to change without notice. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC disclaims any liability for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information in this report. The third-party trademarks or service marks appearing within this report are the property of their respective owners. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. Owners and employees of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC for their own accounts invest in the Fidelity Funds mentioned in this report. They may for their own accounts also buy, sell, or hold long or short positions in any of the other securities mentioned in this report. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC neither is associated with nor receives any compensation from Fidelity Investments. The investment returns and examples provided above are solely for illustrative purposes. Past performance is neither an indication of nor a guarantee for future results. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without written permission of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. Copyright © 2004 AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

Sam Subramanian, PhD, MBA is Managing Principal of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. Sam developed the ValuM™ Investment Process for managing investments. He edits the AlphaProfit Sector Investors’ Newsletter™. For the 5 year period ending December 31, 2003, AlphaProfit model portfolios increased by up to 288%, a compound annual return rate of 31%. To learn more about AlphaProfit and to subscribe to the FREE newsletter, visit: http://www.alphaprofit.com

Mutual funds and brokers are always preaching not to buy any fund with a high expense ratio. That is the annual costs of the fund to pay for trading of stocks within their portfolio, salaries, rent, telephone, analysts, etc. Most of them tell you not to buy one that exceeds 1.5%. There is also another expense added by some mutual funds called a 12b1 (usually from ¼% to 1%) that is supposed to be used for promotional purposes only. These numbers may appear small, but they are being applied to multi-millions, sometimes billions of dollars.

The 12b1 is for advertising of the fund to bring in more investors. The more customers, the more money in the fund, spreads expenses over a greater amount of money and should reduce the expense ratio.

We have seen allegations recently that many funds are putting the 12b1 in the pockets of the fund managers and even as the fund gets larger and larger the expense fees have not been reduced.

I won’t be discussing here the loads (commissions) charged as I see no reason to buy any fund that charges commissions; there are thousands of no-load (no commission) funds that outperform the load funds.

For example, here are 2 funds. The first is Pioneer Fund which incidentally has a commission charge of 5.75% with a price per share increase of 22% in 2003 and an expense ratio of 1.11%. Another fund Yacktman Focus Fund with no commission charge and a return of 27% with an expense ratio of 1.25%. Five percent better return is a huge difference. Which one would you buy?

The Merrill Lynch Global Technology Fund with a back end load of 4% and an expense ratio of 2.78% yielded 52% so far this year. Another no-load fund, Profunds BioTechnlogy, with an expense ration of 2.92% and has made 56% YTD. Another no-brainer as to which one you wished you had bought earlier this year. Just a couple of more: Enterprise Growth Fund with a commission of 4.75%, an expense of 1.73% and a return of 20% YTD and Rydex Energy Fund a no load with expenses of 1.39% and a return of 23% YTD.

Even if you leave out the commission charges you will easily find funds that have returns in excess of those with lower expense ratios. Don’t be fooled by Wall Street nonsense of anything but net total return on your money. Period. If you take into account the additional commissions that many funds and brokerage companies charge you will quickly see you have been hoodwinked all these years.

The above examples are not extreme as I don’t think expense ratios should mean anything to influence your purchase. Don’t let any broker or financial planner sell you anything other than the best return for your money.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

Do you own any mutual funds? In an IRA or 401K or wherever. Privately or at work.

Have you called your fund manager to find out what is going on with your fund? Are they under investigation for late trading, improper pricing, deviation from length of sales defined in the prospectus or stale trading? Are my questions too hard?

Please don’t be confused. It seems that most fund owners haven’t done anything. There is a serous bout of complacency going around. Forget the flu; this is going to affect your pocketbook. Oh well, it’s your money and if you don’t care if some crook in a suit with a manicure is handling it then that is your loss.

Now we find out that even those foreign funds have bandits for managers. The British mutual fund industry called unit investment trusts has been doing almost the same thing as our home-grown thieves. It seems the little investor has his wrists tied to his ankles all over the world. The regulatory agencies such as the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) have NOT been doing their job. If you have questions about your funds you can call them in Washington at 202-942-8088. They must tell you as this is public information.

The late trading scandal hit first and has been misnamed as market timing. Late trading is illegal whereas market timing is legitimate. Late trading allows order entry at today’s price as long as 3 hours after the market has closed. During that 3 hours news of financial importance regarding stocks in a particular fund could be affected by legal decisions, profit pronouncements, etc.,etc. That news could make the fund go up 2% to 5% the next day when the late trade is then offset taking a disproportionate amount of profits from the regular fund holders. That does not sound like much, but when you are dealing with big numbers it is plenty. What is nice for the crook is there is almost no risk.

In many funds there are classes such A, B, C and other strange letters. These have to do with how much and when the commission is charged. If you put in $25,000 or more you are supposed to get a better price, but many funds have been charging more.

In the prospectus it may say you are required to hold a fund for X numbers of days or pay an extra amount called a redemption fee. Their friends, the big money folks, have not been so charged.

Stale trading is the new one. It seems the buy or sell orders are not entered on the day they were placed, but done so at a more favorable time to allow for a better profit.

These practices and ones not yet reported and those I have not heard of are stealing money from your account. What are you waiting for?

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

Mutual funds are doing more and more to discourage investors from leaving them and taking their money to a better performing fund. What does better performing mean? It has nothing to do with who the manager is, what the expense ratio is or how well they performed over the past 5 or 10 years.

Remember the old one, “What have you done for me lately?” That is the ONLY thing that counts. If you ever expect to make money in the stock market you must take the time to find the best performing no-load, no-redemption fee funds that are going up the fastest during the past 3 and 6 months. Usually any fund that has done well for a year or more has just about run its course and once it starts weakening in its upward movement, goes flat and starts down it should be sold and replaced. This can easily be seen in a chart on your computer or at the library at www.bigcharts.com.

There are many funds that will advance at the rate of 1% per week. Yes, per week, but you must find them. It is certainly worth the effort. There are services you can buy such as No-Load FundX; however, there are many free areas on the Internet that will locate excellent funds such as Bar Charts (http://www2.barchart.com/funds.asp , Bloomberg http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=mutualfunds and Yahoo www.yahoo.com/finance as well as Investor’s Business Daily newspaper that lists the best 3-month and 6-month performers each week. Be careful to check with the fund or your broker that there are no hidden fees. Those that charge a commission do NOT outperform those that have no loads (commission).

Most full service brokers will not sell you no-load funds so you will have to own an account with a discount broker such as Ameritrade, Scottrade or Brown & Company. Many of the well known discount brokers such as Fidelity, Schwab and Waterhouse have adopted hidden fees.

Brokers and financial planners will tell you not to switch around, but that is because they have not learned their trade. It also might mean they are too lazy to do their job. If you remain with a weak fund you will have a weak return or even lose money.

I may sound too harsh in my criticism of brokers and financial planners, but I have hired more than 300 brokers when I owned a brokerage company and I know that only about 1% (yes, one) know how to make money and protect capital. You have to find a good one or take charge yourself.

There may be times when very few, if any, funds are going up. Then you will be in cash in a money market. CASH IS A POSITION. Performance also includes not losing while the market is going down.

Knowing how and when to switch will double or triple your returns and most importantly you will not lose profits you have made. Stay with the best performers at all times.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

Have you ever thought of investing? Do you have a family that you would like take care of? Does the idea of making money with stocks, bonds, mutual funds and real estate interest you?

Investing is essential to making money. Whether it be stock investing, investing online, real estate investing, finance investing, investing in bonds, investing in mutual funds. All are essential in helping secure your finances, and financial stability for you and your family. If you are interested in investing, continue reading about ways to make money. We will briefly discuss the concepts of investing with stocks and mutual funds, investing with real estate and investing online.

Stock & Mutual Fund Investing

The stock market is a great place to make money. If you intend on investing with stocks and mutual funds, we highly suggest that you first do research on the companies you wish to invest in. Although the stock market is a great place to make money, there is also a degree of risk involved.

Real Estate Investing

Investing in real estate is safer than the stock market. A lot of people purchase homes that need are in need of remodeling, and can make a lot of money by fixing them up and selling them. Be advised that it isn’t as simple as buying a house, painting it, and then selling it. There are a lot of factors that you should consider before you attempt to invest in real estate.

Online Investing

Another fast growing way to invest is through trading online. Traders have the capability of doing research, buying and selling and making money with their investments all with the simplicity of sitting in front of a computer. It’s amazing at how easily you can work your finances online, and make money without even leaving the house!

If you plan on investing, make sure you educate yourself in the market or means in which you wish to proceed. Whether it be investing with stocks, investing with mutual funds, investing with real estate or investing online, do your research and make some money! If you are looking for a resource to help you with investing, you can visit our website and you will find ample information about investments, and how to make money.

Brian M. Gardner is the Founder of Financial-Articles.com - An Online Money Making Resource. Learn how to make money and acquire wealth by investing in stocks and mutual funds, as well as how to be successful in sales, marketing and advertising.

Visit Brian’s website at http://www.financial-articles.com

‘Sector funds are too risky.’ ‘I doubled my money with Fidelity Select Technology in 12 months!’ ‘Avoid sector funds.’ If all of this sounds confusing, you are not alone. Sector funds are among the more misused and misunderstood investments. So, how should you use sector funds?

Before looking at one of the uses of sector funds in detail, let’s review what sector funds really are: Sector funds confine their investments to a particular sector of the economy. Fidelity Select Healthcare (NDQ: FSPHX) is an example of a sector fund. By focusing on stocks of companies in the healthcare sector, the price moves of this fund are more dependent on factors that impact the healthcare sector rather than the economy as a whole. Demographic change, such as increasing age of the population, is an example of a factor that particularly drives investments in healthcare. By diversifying its assets across over 60 companies within the healthcare sector, Fidelity Select Healthcare provides investors with the opportunity to benefit from secular trends driving the demand for healthcare while mitigating company-specific risks such as failure of clinical trials conducted by a particular company.

Let’s now look at a high-potential approach of using sector funds.

Using sector funds to create a diversified mutual fund portfolio By allocating assets across a group of sector funds, investors can effectively create a diversified mutual fund portfolio using sector funds. This approach gives the investor flexibility to over-weight or under-weight certain sectors versus broadly diversified indexes such as the S&P 500®.

To implement this active approach to money management, it helps to have a diverse group of sector funds to choose from. Fidelity Investments manages 41 sector funds under the Fidelity Select Portfolios® umbrella which makes this family of sector funds well-suited for this purpose. By dividing assets across, say, 8 sector funds in the Fidelity Select Portfolios, e.g., Fidelity Select Biotechnology (NDQ: FBIOX), Fidelity Select Computers (NDQ: FDCPX), Fidelity Select Energy Service (NDQ: FSESX), Fidelity Select Home Finance (NDQ: FSVLX), Fidelity Select Medical Delivery (NDQ: FSHCX), Fidelity Select Multimedia (NDQ: FBMPX), Fidelity Select Retailing (NDQ: FSRPX), and Fidelity Select Wireless (NDQ: FWRLX), one can build a customized diversified portfolio. With each of the sector fund managers actively scouting for the best investment ideas within their sectors, this cluster of Fidelity Select Portfolios packs a lot of power into your diversified portfolio.

Other mutual fund families that provide a relatively wide choice of sector funds include ProFunds and Rydex Funds. Exchange traded sector funds such as Select Sector SPDRs, iShares, and Sector HOLDRS, that trade on the American Stock Exchange, can also be used to construct diversified sector fund portfolios.

The wide selection of sector funds available provides you with the ability to take advantage of changing market conditions and continually optimize the risk-reward characteristics of your diversified portfolio. To employ this approach effectively, you need to understand and follow the dynamics of the individual sectors. You must also be able to make informed decisions on sectors to select and sectors to avoid. At the end of the day, you should be right more often than wrong with the sectors you select.

AlphaProfit.com’s research suggests that by constructing diversified mutual fund portfolios using sector funds, investors have the potential to outperform the market averages on the basis of relative returns as well as risk-adjusted returns. The track-record of AlphaProfit’s model portfolios indicates the potential of this approach.

A Caveat

Diversification is one of the cornerstone principles of mutual fund investing. Sector funds that focus on high-growth sectors or narrow niches of the economy tend to be volatile. It is generally not advisable to commit a substantial portion of your total assets to a single sector fund. Maintaining adequate diversification across sectors in your overall mutual fund portfolio is good investing practice.

Key Points to Remember

1. Sector funds are investment vehicles that focus their investments on a particular sector or industry group. Sector funds provide investors with an opportunity to profit from trends impacting a particular sector or industry while reducing company-specific risks.

2. High-potential diversified portfolios can be constructed by dividing assets among a group of sector funds. This active investment approach requires investors to make informed decisions on sector selection. The power-packed cluster of sector funds may offer investors the potential to outperform the market averages.

3. Diversifying mutual fund portfolios across sectors is good investing practice.

Notes: This report is for information purposes only. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities or to give individual investment advice. This report does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation, and particular needs of any specific person who may receive this report. The information contained in this report is obtained from various sources believed to be accurate and is provided without warranties of any kind. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC does not represent that this information, including any third party information, is accurate or complete and it should not be relied upon as such. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC is not responsible for any errors or omissions herein. AlphaProfit Investments, LLC disclaims any liability for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information in this report.

The third-party trademarks or service marks appearing within this report are the property of their respective owners. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. Past performance is neither an indication of nor a guarantee for future results. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without written permission of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. Copyright © 2004 AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

Sam Subramanian, PhD, MBA is Managing Principal of AlphaProfit Investments, LLC. Sam developed the ValuM™ Investment Process for managing investments. He edits the AlphaProfit Sector Investors’ Newsletter™. For the 5 year period ending December 31, 2003, AlphaProfit model portfolios increased by up to 288%, a compound annual return rate of 31%. To learn more about AlphaProfit and to subscribe to the FREE newsletter, visit: http://www.alphaprofit.com

Outlined below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of mutual funds. Every investment has advantages and disadvantages. But it’s important to remember that features that matter to one investor may not be important to you. Whether any particular feature is an advantage for you will depend on your unique circumstances.

For some investors, mutual funds provide an attractive investment choice because they generally offer the following features:

Professional Management:

Professional money managers research, select, and monitor the performance of the securities the fund purchases.

Diversification:

Diversification is an investing strategy that can be neatly summed up as "Don’t put all your eggs in one basket." Spreading your investments across a wide range of companies and industry sectors can help lower your risk if a company or sector fails. Some investors find it easier to achieve diversification through ownership of mutual funds rather than through ownership of individual stocks or bonds.

Affordability:

Some mutual funds accommodate investors who don’t have a lot of money to invest by setting relatively low pound amounts for initial purchases, subsequent monthly purchases, or both.

Liquidity:

Mutual fund investors can readily redeem their shares plus any fees and charges assessed on redemption at any time.

But mutual funds also have features that some investors might view as disadvantages, such as:

Costs despite Negative Returns:

Investors must pay sales charges, annual fees, and other expenses regardless of how the fund performs. And, depending on the timing of their investment, investors may also have to pay taxes on any capital gains distribution they receive - even if the fund went on to perform poorly after they bought shares.

Lack of Control:

Investors typically cannot ascertain the exact make-up of a fund’s portfolio at any given time, nor can they directly influence which securities the fund manager buys and sells or the timing of those trades.

Price Uncertainty:

With an individual stock, you can obtain real-time (or close to real-time) pricing information with relative ease by checking financial websites or by calling your broker. You can also monitor how a stock’s price changes from hour to hour - or even second to second. By contrast, with a mutual fund, the price at which you purchase or redeem shares will typically depend on the fund’s net asset value, which the fund might not calculate until many hours after you’ve placed your order.

Making any sort of investment involved a certain amount of risk so it is always wise to seek the advice of a professional before making any decisions.

You may freely reprint this article provided the author’s biography remains intact:

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

This is a guide to the different types of mutual funds. When it comes to investing in mutual funds, investors have literally thousands of choices.

Before you invest in any given fund, decide whether the investment strategy and risks of the fund are a good fit for you. The first step to successful investing is figuring out your financial goals and risk tolerance - either on your own or with the help of a financial professional. Once you know what you’re saving for, when you’ll need the money, and how much risk you can tolerate, you can more easily narrow your choices.

Most mutual funds fall into one of three main categories - money market funds, bond funds (also called "fixed income" funds), and stock funds (also called "equity" funds). Each type has different features and different risks and rewards. Generally, the higher the potential return, the higher the risk of loss.

Money Market Funds:

Money market funds have relatively low risks, compared to other mutual funds. Investor losses have been rare, but they are possible. Money market funds pay dividends that generally reflect short-term interest rates, and historically the returns for money market funds have been lower than for either bond or stock funds.

Bond Funds:

Bond funds generally have higher risks than money market funds, largely because they typically pursue strategies aimed at producing higher yields. Because there are many different types of bonds, bond funds can vary dramatically in their risks and rewards.

Stock Funds:

Although a stock fund’s value can rise and fall quickly (and dramatically) over the short term, historically stocks have performed better over the long term than other types of investments - including corporate bonds and government bonds.

You can purchase shares in some mutual funds by contacting the fund directly. Other mutual fund shares are sold mainly through brokers, banks, financial planners, or insurance agents. All mutual funds will redeem (buy back) your shares on any business day.

Making any sort of investment involved a certain amount of risk so it is always wise to seek the advice of a professional before making any decisions.

You may freely reprint this article provided the author’s biography remains intact:

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

When purchasing mutual funds we are cautioned to read the prospectus, look at past performance, check out the fund manager’s record and see what their expense ratios have been.

We are also told that we should not buy funds with expenses exceeding 1% to 1.5%. When you ask the fund salesman (don’t forget he’s a salesman) he will assure you that the fund expenses are whatever is shown in the prospectus. He is telling you the truth, but not the whole truth, according the Securities and Exchange regulations. In many cases he has left out a big chuck of expenses.

The 1.5% expense means you are paying $150 each year of every $10,000 you have invested with that fund. The lower the expense is the more of your money is at work. As a fund becomes larger meaning they take in more money the expense ratio should drop, but it rarely does.he fund manager must make 1.5% to have your money stay even.

If you can find your way around the Securities and Exchange Commission internet web site you will find that the definition of expense ratio leaves out commission charges. Many funds will turn over their portfolio by 100% in a year. Obviously they are not going to buy and sell at no charge. The floor broker must be paid a commission for each share that is executed.

Sometimes brokerage fees are purposely inflated and the broker kicks back favors(they don’t call it that) such as research information, free computers and other favors. Been to the Hampton’s or Hawaii for that all-expense weekend seminar? Course not.

The SEC does not require that this commission cost be disclosed as an expense. Why? Their answer is pure government hokum, “We exclude brokerage costs because we have always excluded brokerage costs”. This is the SEC that is supposed to be the watchdog for the investor.

Leaving out this important fact will hide another .25 to .50 cents or more in some cases in expenses that you are paying for. When you call the fund to ask if their brokerage commissions are included the person to whom you are speaking probably won’t understand and will give you the standard answer that the number shown in the Prospectus is correct. Getting a true answer is like pulling an impacted wisdom tooth. If you can get one.

Brokerage commissions are known to the penny and could easily be included in the prospectus, but these “soft dollars” as they are known are not made public to the investors seem to disappear.

Fund managers say these costs are insignificant and that investors should look at the fund’s performance. If they did that and really understood what they were looking at they probably wouldn’t buy 90% of the domestic stock funds.

This is just another example of how the investor has the wool pulled over his eyes and another reason I find prospectuses worthless.

Al Thomas’ best selling book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter and receive his market letter for 3 months at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know. Copyright 2005