The hallmark of a serious investor is the ability to keep exploring ways to continue to increase his or her investment stakes in various investment vehicles so as to stay relevant and increase their wealth. If you are opportune to talk with any average investor, you might realize one dominant trait, and that is the ability to go all length to explore and take advantage of every available investment opportunity that is available.
Amongst the investment vehicles available to investors is the Mutual Funds. In simple terms, the Mutual funds is a pool of cash generated from various private investors with the same goal, interest and investment philosophy, for the sole aim of investing in stocks, bonds, assets, other securities and money market instruments.
The fund is managed by a professional fund manager on behalf of the investors. The good thing about mutual fund is that the investors are able to decide to sell their shares directly to the public just like every other company that is listed in the stock exchange. If you have got the funds and you are truly ready to go all the way to invest in mutual funds, then the following guide would help you get started.
Investing In Mutual Funds Online – A Beginner’s Guide
1. Set a Goal for Your Savings
Investing in mutual funds is not as difficult as investing in the hedge funds and the reasons are not farfetched. With mutual funds, you don’t need to save a huge amount before investing in mutual funds. As a matter of fact, it is affordable for the average investor to invest in. So saving up to invest in mutual funds shouldn’t be what causes you stress, just make sure you set a financial goal of the amount you would like to start with before you get started.
2. Contact a Broker
If you want to invest in mutual funds, you might have to talk to a broker to refer you to a trusted and prolific mutual funds manager. Although you can buy mutual funds directly from a fund manager, if you are new to this type of investment vehicle, the wise thing to do is to go through a broker. They are experts who know just how to help you get a tested and trusted mutual funds manager. You can search online to locate mutual funds brokers around you or go through the yellow pages of your country.
3. Study Your Options
If you are investing in mutual funds, you need to know the options that are available to you. You could choose to invest in stock funds, bond funds, market funds or you could chose to invest in target date funds. However, be sure to study the risks, features and rewards of whichever mutual funds options you might want to invest in. It is advisable to critically study the prospectus of the mutual funds, so that you would be able to get acquainted with their investment philosophy, their objectives, how they’ve performed overtime and all the charges that you might be required to pay. If you take your time to study your options, you would be well guided to make an informed decision on the mutual funds to invest in.
4. Know Your Benefits and Risks
Even though you have great benefits from investing in mutual funds, bear in mind that you have great risks too. The truth about investing in mutual funds is that your investment could go down the drain if things go awry.
In most cases you might not have even an inkling of what might happen next in the financial market because of how volatile the market is. Be that as it may, as part of the benefits of investing in mutual funds, you might get multiple returns on your investments within a short period of time. You can get the benefits via capital gains distributions, dividends payments, and whenever the market value of your fund’s portfolio increases.
5. Know Your Limits
It is true that you might get huge returns when you invest in mutual funds, as well as the possibility of losing your investment if things go bad. This means that you should know when to increase your investment stakes and when to sell all or some of your stocks. A good investor never allows emotions or sentiments to becloud their minds when it comes to making a decision on when to walk away and when to stay. The good thing about mutual funds is that it is redeemable; your shares can be bought back from you by the mutual funds manager
6. Review Your Investments
If you want to maximize your investments in mutual funds, you must engage in constant review of your investment portfolio. You must make it a point of duty to review and analyze the performance of your stocks, assets, bonds and other investment instruments either monthly, quarterly, or yearly so as to know where you stand and if the need be the necessary actions to be taken.
Overtime, it has been proven that investing in mutual funds is the gateway for many new investors to enter into the world of big time investments. When you make up your mind to invest in mutual funds, ensure that you only deal with a mutual fund manager that is legally registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission – SEC of your country, so as to avoid investing your money with fraudulent mutual funds managers.
You might want to get the list of all registered mutual funds manager when you make the request or you could look it up online from the website of the agency regulating the industry in your country (Securities and Exchange Commission).
10 Factors to Consider Before Investing In Mutual Funds Company
Even though you might have the chance of multiplying your wealth within record time by investing in mutual funds, you need to also know that you can also lose your investments if you do not study the market and the mutual funds properly before buying into any mutual funds company.
One thing that makes an investor to continue to stay afloat in the investment world is the ability of the investor to know when to invest, how much to invest, where to invest and when to pull out from any investment instrument. You can only know this if you engage in continuous studies of all the trends and information of investments you lay your hands on.
It is important that you consider these 10 factors critically before investing in any mutual funds company of your choice if indeed you want to maximize your profits and minimize your risks.
a. Registration Status of the Mutual Funds Company
To start with, it is very important that you check the registration status of any mutual funds company you intend investing in. This is important because it would help you avoid fraudulent mutual funds company. All mutual funds are managed by Investment Advisers or Mutual Funds Manager they are expected by law to be registered with The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the country they are operating from. You could check registration status of Mutual Funds Company by requesting for it from the SEC office that is close to you.
b. Performance of the Mutual Funds Company
If you truly want to avoid risks with your investments, then you might need to study the prospectus of the mutual funds company you intend investing with. The law requires that every mutual funds company must submit their regular shareholders reports and prospectus to the Security and Exchange Commission of their country so as to help in regulating their activities and serve as a guide to prospective investors.
What you should look out for when studying the prospectus is to look critically at both the long term and short term performance of the company. The long time performance enables you understand all the twist and turns the company might have gone through and how they have been able to manage it. With the information you get, you would be able to predict what you should be expecting with your investment.
c. Minimum and Maximum Amount Required
Of course you should know the minimum and maximum amount required to invest in the Mutual funds Company of your choice. It is important because you might not want to stress yourself financially just because you want to invest in a mutual fund. Some mutual funds requirements are high, whilst some are affordable. The idea is to know how much you can afford and go for it.
d. Fees and Charges of the Mutual Funds Company
No doubt, you should be aware that you would be required to pay some service fees and charges when you invest into mutual funds. This fees and charges vary from one mutual funds Company to another. So it is left to you to look at the mutual funds company that has the most affordable fees and sub charges that suites you. For instance, you might be expected to pay certain fees annually and also some percentage of the amount realized from the sale your stocks is charged as service fees. You can be charged less than 2%, 2% or more than 2%, just make sure you learn about it beforehand.
e. Philosophy of the Mutual Funds Company
The investment philosophy of any mutual funds company of your choice matters a lot. Take your time to study and understand their philosophy and ensure that it aligns with yours before investing with them. You do not want to end up with a company that would put you in more mess, or do you?
f. The Goals and Objectives of the Mutual Funds Company
Each mutual funds company has their own goals and objectives and how they intend achieving it. The goals might be to multiply their investments within a certain period of time or the number of investment they expect to admit within a period of time and when they intend selling their stocks to the public. Be sure to get all the adequate information needed in this regard.
g. The Risks The Mutual Funds Company is exposed to
Investing in mutual funds does mean that you would be exposing yourself to some risks. The good thing is that various mutual funds companies are exposed to different level of risks. What is expected of you is to look at the risks you stand to face with the mutual funds company you intend investing in before committing your money. With some mutual funds company the level of risks can be lower than others.
h. The Qualifications and Experience of the Fund Manager
It also important to know the competency of the mutual funds manager you would be dealing with. Of course you should be able to request for their qualifications and experience to know if they have all it takes to manage your investment and give you good returns for your investment. It is better you look for a mutual manager that has good investment strategies, good risk management strategies and overall, a good track record.
i. The Benefits You Stand to Get
You should be able to know the benefits you stand to get from the mutual funds company you want to invest in, how it can impact your investment portfolio and the window period required before a new investor can start selling his stocks. You should also request to know the turnover you should be expecting from your investments. The percentage used in distributing capital gains and dividends from the stocks et al.
j. The Management Style of the Mutual Funds Company
Various mutual funds companies have their own management style. It is advisable not to commit your money with any investment company unless you take your time to understand their management style. The truth is that the management of a mutual fund can determine how successful they are and what to expect from them.
No doubt the 10 factors listed above can effectively guide any investor seeking to choose a mutual fund company to invest with. You can also take a cue from these guides and be rest assured that you would make the right choice of investment.
Would these guidelines as stated earlier really get you started rightly? You bet it would, as you can be rest assured that these time tested tips would steer you in the most appropriate direction so as to launch an investment portfolio in the mutual funds investment sector. You can do it, so embrace it.