A mutual fund is a company that pools the money of many investors - its shareholders - to invest in a variety of different securities. Investments may be in stocks, bonds, money market securities or some combination of these. Those securities are professionally managed on behalf of the shareholders, and each investor holds a pro rata share of the portfolio - entitled to any profits when the securities are sold, but subject to any losses in value as well.

For the individual investor, mutual funds provide the benefit of having someone else manage your investments, take care of recordkeeping for your account, and diversify your dollars over many different securities that may not be available or affordable to you otherwise. Today, minimum investment requirements on many funds are low enough that even the smallest investor can get started in mutual funds.

Types of Mutual Funds:

This section provides descriptions of the characteristics -- such as investment objective and potential for volatility of your investment -- of various categories of funds. These descriptions are organized by the type of securities purchased by each fund: equities, fixed-income, money market instruments, or some combination of these securities.

.		Equity Funds invest in shares of common stocks.
.		Fixed-Income Funds invest in government or corporate securities which offer fixed rates of return.
.		Balanced Funds invest in a combination of both stocks and bonds.
.		Money Market Funds for high stability of principal, liquidity and income.
.		Bond Funds , both tax-exempt and taxable funds to generate income.
.		Specialty/Sector Funds to diversify holdings within an industry.