Over the past decade, American investors increasingly have turned to mutual funds to save for retirement and meet other financial goals. Mutual funds can offer the advantages of diversification and professional management. It pays to understand both the upside and the downside of mutual fund investing and how to choose products that match your goals and tolerance for risk. As with other investment choices, investing in mutual funds involves risk, fees, and taxes. This new book explains the basics of mutual fund investing how mutual funds work, what factors to consider before investing, and how to avoid common pitfalls. Mutual funds are not guaranteed or insured by the FDIC or any other government agency. Even if you buy through a bank, and the fund carries the bank's name. You can lose money investing in mutual funds. In addition, there are more than 10,000 mutual funds to choose from. The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $132.8 billion, or 1.3 percent, to $10.414 trillion in December 2006, according to the Investment Company Institute's (ICI s) official survey of the mutual fund industry. In the survey, mutual fund companies report actual assets, sales, and redemptions to ICI. Why should you consider investing in a mutual fund? One reason is simply the high potential returns. Many funds have earnings in the triple digits. This all sounds great, but what is the catch? There really is none, except you must know what you are doing! This groundbreaking and exhaustively researched new book will provide everything you need to know to get you started generating high investment returns with low risk from start to finish. You will learn what mutual funds are, the various types and advantages of each, how to evaluate their risk against other types of investments, how to and how not to invest in them, how to allocate your assets, how to set up your account online, how to choose when to sell, and how to cash them in. This is your source for understanding investment funds: open end, exchange traded funds, equity funds, index funds, bond funds, money market funds, funds of funds, hedge funds, growth stock funds, value stock funds, income stock funds, sector mutual funds, enhanced index funds, sector mutual funds, closed end funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and many others. You will pick up the language of mutual fund investing and what the lingo means to you: net asset value, load versus no load, turnover, expenses and total expense ratios, capitalization, share classes, growth versus value, dollar cost averaging and many more. We have also included a history of mutual funds (including their scandals), and we have disclosed the mysteries of documents you will encounter in mutual fund investing, such as their ratings, share classes, fees, annual reports, and indexes. We show you how to compare your fund to the competition, how to compare it to other types of investments, and how to compare various funds on an after-tax basis. We make it easy for you to grasp strategies for expanding your investments into different market sectors and among various classes of stocks, such as small and micro-cap stocks, mid cap and large cap companies, defensive stocks, and mixtures of stock types. You will develop your own expertise in reading the economy both nationally and globally, handling taxes, devising investment tactics for portfolio allocation whether interest rates are rising or falling, with down-to-earth instructions to help you bring in a high and steady income, all the while evading losses and downfalls. In addition, we took the extra effort and spent an unprecedented amount of time researching, interviewing, e-mailing, and communicating with hundreds of todays most successful mutual fund investors.
The Mutual Funds Book
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for the Investment Beginner!,
This review is from: The Mutual Funds Book: How to Invest in Mutual Funds & Earn High Rates of Returns Safely (Paperback)
As I was reading "The Mutual Funds Book" by Alan Northcott, I was pleased with its language and structure. The book includes the origin of mutual funds as well as the numerous types of funds (such as no-load, world, global, foreign, international, etc.). The book also includes information on websites which provide additional information on companies, minimum amount required to invest, as well as a calculator to demonstrate how much you would have to invest in order to secure a comfortable retirement.
When deciding to invest your earnings, it is important to have knowledge about the types of funds, assessment value, prospectus as well as the risks of the investment. The book also provides case studies of real-life individuals experienced in the investment field which answers questions and provides important facts on the steps one should consider when deciding to invest. As a beginner in the investment world, it provides important knowledge as well as questions to ask and consider when deciding to invest in mutual funds. The book contains numerous types of bonds as well as definitions which is useful for individuals who are first-time investors. My rating for the book is 5 stars-I thought the book was useful and informative as well as a great guide in helping individuals decide which bond(s) to invest in.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Timely Reference Book for the "Average-person" Investor,
By
This review is from: The Mutual Funds Book: How to Invest in Mutual Funds & Earn High Rates of Returns Safely (Paperback)
If you are like me, you already invest in a variety of mutual funds, acting solely on the advice of your financial planner or adviser. Reading "The Mutual Funds Book" by Alan Northcott has given me an education as well as a sense of confidence in the often confusing world of mutual fund investing.
Subtitled "How to Invest in Mutual Funds and Earn High Rates of Return Safely,"this book delivers a broad overview and direction for the average investor. The subtitle is partially misleading though, as I finished the book with the idea that "safety" is mostly just a lowered rate of risk. Mr. Northcott is often reminding the reader that they must assess their own level of risk. That being said, I now have a good idea of the funds I would like to avoid and why. I can speak to my financial adviser with terms I understand and plan to have this book handy to use as a ready reference guide. Alan Northcott writes clinically about mutual funds, not sparing the reader any negative points and being refreshingly forthright. The chapters involve listing the different types of mutual funds as well explaining the key terms, fees and management issues. At some points in the book the reader needs to get through the listings in order to get to the practical, personal applications. It is well worth it though, in the end. A highly educational, and my own case, a timely book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fair guide to a seemingly confusing process,
By
This review is from: The Mutual Funds Book: How to Invest in Mutual Funds & Earn High Rates of Returns Safely (Paperback)
Investing in mutual funds can be a confusing process, especially to a new investor. This book informs any person looking to invest in mutual funds or interested in learning more about investing in mutual funds. The book follows a sequence for any beginner and turns you into a quick expert on mutual funds. From the history of mutual funds, to how to open an account, the book teaches you all you need to know about starting out in the world of mutual funds. The easily confusing information is presented in a simple, organized manner in a way that any reader could understand.
Alan Northcott writes for the beginner looking to make a return on an investment. He describes the positives and negatives to investing in different types of mutual funds including: open-end funds, close-end funds, global funds, no-load funds, and load funds. Making a decision about having a financial advisor is discussed in detail. The book also includes interviews with reputable members of the industry. The new investor can learn from the experiences and advice offered by experts like Sean Hyman, Richard E. Reyes, and Sam Subramanian. By reinforcing his facts with expert opinions, the author adds credibility to his book. The expert advice is well presented, and the information provided by the experts can be useful to any investor. Northcott offers an unbiased opinion on types of investments so the new investor can make an educated investment choice without feeling swayed toward a specific investment decision. The book deals with current market issues and stigma that currently surrounds investing. It paints an accurate picture of the current market situation. Risks and alternatives are suggested for those looking for different levels of risk. Northcott even suggests other types of investments for those that may not benefit from mutual funs. After reading this book, a reader could make an informed investing decision and have a clear picture of the current market. This is perhaps the best attribute of the book. The book was an informative read, for a person of any age with any amount to invest looking to understand more about mutual funds. Mutual funds become simple after reading this book. This book comes highly recommended to anyone of any competency looking to better understand mutual funds and investing. After reading this book, you will have a foundation to understanding mutual funds, financial advisors, and maintaining a portfolio.
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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