Mutual Funds

Mutual Fund

A security that gives small investors access to a well-diversified portfolio of equities, bonds and other securities. Each shareholder participates in the gain or loss of the fund. Shares are issued and can be redeemed as needed.

The fund's net asset value (NAV) is determined each day. Each mutual fund portfolio is invested to match the objective stated in the prospectus.

It has been shown in study after study that a majority of mutual funds fail to beat the market. Also, picking mutual funds purely on the basis of past performance usually does not work.


Closed-End Investment

When an investment company issues a fixed number of shares in an actively managed portfolio of securities. The shares are traded in the market just like common stock.

Most mutual funds are open-end funds, not closed-end. The main difference with closed-end funds is that market price of the shares is determined by supply and demand and not by net-asset value (NAV).

Also known as a "closed-end mutual fund" or "closed-end fund".


Open-End Fund

A mutual fund that continues to sell shares to investors, and will buy back shares when investors wish to sell.

Open-end funds have no limit to the number of shares they can issue. The majority of mutual funds are open end.

Units are bought and sold at their current NAV.