Mutual funds are a type of certified managed combined investment schemes that gathers money from many investors to buy securities. The term is most commonly used for collective investment schemes that are regulated and available to the general public and open-ended in nature. 

Feature

Mutual funds are identified by their principal investments. They are the 4th largest category of funds that are also known as money market funds, bond or fixed income funds, stock or equity funds and hybrid funds. Funds are also categorized as index based or actively managed.

Fund Manager

The fund manager is also known as the fund sponsor or fund management company. The buying and selling of the funds investments in accordance with the funds investment is the objective. A fund manager has to be a registered investment advisor. The same fund manager manages the funds and has the same brand name which is also known as a fund family or fund complex.

Mutual funds can pass taxable income to their investors every year. For e.g., mutual fund distributors of dividend income are described as dividend income by the investor.

Mutual funds invest in various kinds of securities. The various types of securities that a particular fund may invest in are mentioned in the funds prospectus, which explain the funds investments objective, its approach and the permitted investments. The objective of the investment describes the kind of income that the fund is looking for. For e.g., a “capital appreciation” fund generally looks to earn most of its returns from the increase in prices of the securities it holds . The approach of the investment describes the criteria that the fund manager may have used to select the investments for the fund.

The investment portfolio of a mutual funds investment is continuously monitored by the funds portfolio manager or managers who are either employed by the funds manager or the sponsor.

Advantages of Mutual funds are:

1) Increase in diversification.
2) Liquidity on a daily basis.
3) Professional investment management.
4) Capacity to participate in investments that may be available only for larger investors.
5) Convenience as well as service.
6) Government oversight.
7) Easier comparison

There are different types of Mutual funds as well. Here are some of them.

Open-end funds

In open-end mutual funds, one must be willing to buy back their shares from investors at the end of every business day at the net asset value that is calculated for that day. Most of the open-end funds also sell shares to the public on every business day. These shares are also priced at a particular net asset value. A professional investment manager will oversee the portfolio, while buying or selling securities whichever is appropriate. The total investment in the funds will be variably based on share buying, share redemptions and fluctuation in the market variation. 

Close-end funds

Close-end funds generally issue shares to the public just once, when they are created via an initial public offering. These shares are then listed for trading on a stock exchange. Instead, they must sell their shares to another investor in the market as the price they may receive may be hugely different from its net asset value. It may be at a premium to net asset value (higher than the net asset value) or more commonly at a lesser to net asset value (lower than the net asset value). 

म्यूच्यूअल फण्ड का मतलब है कि कई निवेशक अपने पैसे को एक साथ जमा करते हैं, और उन पैसों को एक फण्ड मेनेजर के हाथ में सौंपते हैं, जो उन पैसों को शेयर, बॉन्ड, सरकारी प्रकल्प, सोना,आदि में निवेश करता है|

इससे निवेशकों को कुछ फायदे होते हैं, जैसे:

• विभिन्नता: म्यूच्यूअल फण्ड में पैसा लगाने से, आपका पैसा कई सेक्टर, कंपनियों, और प्रकार की संपत्ति में बाँटा जाता है|इससे, अगर किसी एक सेक्टर, कंपनी, या संपत्ति में प्रतिकूल प्रभाव पड़ता है, तो आपको ज़्यादा नुकसान (loss) नहीं होता है|

• मुनाफा: म्यूच्यूअल फण्ड में पैसा लम्बी long-term term में investing से, मुनाफा (profit) कमाने (earning) की संभावना होती  है|

•  म्यूच्यूअल फण्ड मेनेजर मार्केट की  हालत  के  हिसाब (calculation) से  पैसा  निकालते (withdraw) हैं, ताकि नुकसान  से  बचा सकें|

• सुलभता: म्यूच्यूअल फण्ड में पैसा लिखित (written) रुप (form) से, मोबाइल (mobile) पर, या (or) ऑनलाइन (online) तरीके (ways) से लगाया जा सकता हैं । आपको शेयर बाज़ार की जानकारी की जरूरत नहीं होती हैं 

• आशा है कि आपको म्यूच्यूअल फण्ड के बारे में समझ आया होगा|