Updated Articles and Resources

By Kent Thune, About.com Guide

Build a Portfolio-How to Build a Portfolio of Mutual Funds Created: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
To build the best portfolio of mutual funds you must go beyond the sage advice,
Core and Satellite-What is a Core and Satellite Portfolio Created: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Core and Satellite is a common and time-tested investment portfolio design that consists of a
Mutual Fund Categories-Types of Funds Created: Thursday, October 13, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Mutual funds are organized into categories by asset type (stocks, bonds and cash) and then further categorized by style, objective or strategy. Learning how mutual funds are categorized helps an i...
Aggressive Portfolio-Sample Mutual Fund Allocation Created: Friday, September 09, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
For an example of how to build an aggressive portfolio of mutual funds, take a look at this model allocation.
Moderate Portfolio-Sample Mutual Fund Allocation Created: Friday, September 09, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
For an example of how to build an moderate portfolio of mutual funds, take a look at this model allocation.
Conservative Portfolio-Sample Mutual Fund Allocation Created: Friday, September 09, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
For an example of how to build an conservative portfolio of mutual funds, take a look at this model allocation.
Risk Tolerance-What is Risk Tolerance? Created: Monday, August 15, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
A key ingredient to successful investing is knowing yourself. Gauging your risk tolerance is a good way to help you determine how much risk you can tolerate in your portfolio of investments.
Asset Allocation - What is Asset Allocation Created: Thursday, June 02, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Asset allocation describes how investment assets are dividend into the 3 basic investment types - stocks, bonds and cash - within an investment portfolio.
Foreign Tax Credit - What Is the Foreign Tax Credit? Created: Sunday, April 11, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Have you ever heard of the foreign tax credit? If you own international mutual funds in a taxable account, it’s time to make yourself aware of the foreign tax credit.
Charitable Donations of Mutual Funds - Deduction Limitations of Charitable Donations of Mutual Funds Created: Saturday, April 10, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
If you have been generous enough to gift shares of your mutual fund to charity, then you may be curious of the tax implications. It is not safe to assume that you will receive a full federal tax de...
Capital Gain Distributions - What Are Capital Gain Distributions Created: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
To help shareholders prepare for capital gain distributions, mutual fund companies generally post capital gain distribution estimates beginning in October. These capital gain distribution estimates...
Short-Term Capital Gains Distributions - What Are Short-Term Capital Gains Distributions? Created: Sunday, November 01, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
While most people are painfully aware of short-term capital gains, short-term capital gains distributions are often a misunderstood -- and always a dreaded -- aspect of mutual fund investing. Finan...
Structure of Mutual Funds -- What Is the Structure of Mutual Funds Created: Sunday, August 02, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Technically, mutual funds are “open-end” funds -- one of four types of investment companies. Closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds and unit investment trusts are the three other types...
Professional Money Management -- What Is Professional Money Management Created: Saturday, July 25, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Many investors don’t have the resources or the time to buy individual securities such as stocks and bonds. In order to profit from investing in individual securities, an investor not only nee...
Variety of Mutual Funds - There Is a Variety of Mutual Funds Created: Friday, July 24, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
There are many types and styles of mutual funds. There are stock funds, bond funds, money market funds and balanced funds. Mutual funds allow you to invest in the market whether you believe in acti...
Regulations of Mutual Funds - What Are the Regulations of Mutual Funds Created: Thursday, July 23, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Regulation of mutual funds, compared to other pooled investment options is extensive. Mutual funds must comply with a strict set of rules that are monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commissio...
Diversification - Mutual Funds and Diversification Created: Sunday, June 21, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
If the three most important things about investing in real estate are: “location, location and location,” then the three most important things about investing in equities are: “di...
Buy a Mutual Fund - 10 Reasons to Buy a Mutual Fund Created: Monday, June 08, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
There are many reasons to buy a mutual fund. While there are a plethora of investment options (individual stocks, ETFs and close-end funds, to name a few) if you buy a mutual fund, then you a simpl...
Mutual Funds Prospectus - Why Read the Mutual Funds Prospectus Created: Sunday, May 10, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
A mutual fund prospectus is to a mutual fund what an owner’s manual is to a car. If you want to learn more about what’s under the hood of your mutual fund, check out the prospectus. The...
Mutual Fund Distributions - Mutual Fund Capital Gains Distributions Created: Thursday, April 09, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Each year, generally in the last couple of months of the year, mutual fund shareholders face the possibility of receiving capital gains distributions from their mutual funds. Don’t be fooled ...
Buying Mutual Funds - How to Buy a Mutual Fund Created: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
You have decided to add mutual funds to your well-balanced portfolio. Your next step is to sift through the myriad of choices -- where do you buy mutual funds and how much is it going to cost you?
Mutual Fund Fees - Understanding Mutual Fund Fees Created: Thursday, January 29, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
There are various classes of shares of each mutual fund available for purchase (a mutual fund may offer various classes of shares to investors -- the differences are in the fees and expenses of eac...
Mutual Funds - What Are Mutual Funds? Created: Thursday, January 29, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
As a popular investment option, you have probably already heard plenty about mutual funds. Chances are you own mutual funds in your retirement plan or brokerage account. In fact, according to the I...
Before You Invest in Mutual Funds Created: Sunday, January 10, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Before you invest in mutual funds, learn more about the structure of the investment and the fees associated with the investment.
Investing With Mutual Funds - How to Get Started Investing With Mutual Funds Created: Thursday, May 05, 2011 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
To get started investing with mutual funds, you will need to know the basics. Learn how to get started investing with mutual funds by understanding the mutual fund types, taxation and how to buy a...
Reader Submissions: Tell Us About Your Mutual Fund or Investment Blog Created: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Mutual fund blogs and other investment blogs can be excellent resources to learn about investing. Here are blogs about mutual funds and other investment topics submitted by the bloggers themselves....
Pros of Mutual Funds Created: Sunday, May 09, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
There are both pros of mutual funds and cons of mutual funds. Let’s take a look at a few of the pros of mutual funds and what they may offer the novice and experienced investor alike.
Build a Portfolio Created: Saturday, August 01, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
Building a portfolio of mutual funds takes diligence, knowledge and time. The resources below will make the process of building a portfolio more simple and potentially more profitable for you.
Mutual Funds Basics Created: Friday, July 31, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
What is a mutual fund? How do mutual funds compare to closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds and other investments? An understanding of the structure, fees and types of mutual funds will help you ...
How Mutual Funds Work Created: Saturday, January 16, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
The basic idea of how mutual funds work is straightforward. Right? Not necessarily. There is so much information on mutual funds that it may leave one's head spinning. But what is the most confusin...
How to Invest in a 401(k) Created: Sunday, July 19, 2009 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
There are many issues surrounding how to invest your assets. Typical considerations are how to invest in stocks, how to invest in bonds, how to invest in mutual funds and the “how to invest&#...
Market Cap - What Does Market Cap Mean? Created: Saturday, April 24, 2010 Updated: Friday, May 18, 2012
What is market cap and how does it relate to mutual funds? Market cap refers to the equity capitalization of an individual stock. It is the price of a share of stock multiplied by the number of sha...

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