What is mutual fund and its type?
A mutual fund is a type of investment where a group of investors pool their money together to buy a variety of assets, such as stocks, bonds, and money market instruments. The assets are managed by professional investment managers, who aim to generate returns for the investors.
A mutual fund is a type of investment where a group of investors pool their money together to buy a variety of assets, such as stocks, bonds, and money market instruments. The assets are managed by professional investment managers, who aim to generate returns for the investors.
Types of Mutual Funds
Learn more about different mutual fund types below: Equity Funds. Debt Funds. Money Market Funds.
Mutual funds let you pool your money with other investors to "mutually" buy stocks, bonds, and other investments. They're run by professional money managers who decide which securities to buy (stocks, bonds, etc.) and when to sell them. You get exposure to all the investments in the fund and any income they generate.
Bond funds are the most common type of fixed-income mutual funds, where (as the name suggests) investors are paid a fixed amount back on their initial investment.
All investments carry some degree of risk and can lose value if the overall market declines or, in the case of individual stocks, the company folds. Still, mutual funds are generally considered safer than stocks because they are inherently diversified, which helps mitigate the risk and volatility in your portfolio.
| Scheme Name | Current value of Rs 1 lakh invested since inception | CAGR |
|---|---|---|
| HDFC ELSS Tax saver | 37,944,762 | 23.71% |
| Nippon India Growth Fund | 32,858,387 | 22.64% |
| Franklin India Prima Fund | 21,939,907 | 19.51% |
| Franklin India Bluechip Fund | 21,057,490 | 19.35% |
| Fund Name | 1 Year Returns | Fund Size (in Cr) |
|---|---|---|
| Invesco India Arbitrage Fund | 8.1% | ₹8,732 |
| Edelweiss Arbitrage Fund | 7.9% | ₹6,984 |
| Bank of India Overnight Fund | 6.6% | ₹93 |
| Mirae Asset Overnight Fund | 6.6% | ₹1,253 |
The mutual fund category most often providing the highest return is small-cap funds. Read on to know the current risks associated. A small-cap mutual fund is by default, most often, the category with the highest returns, especially this year with a massive 51.8 per cent return.
Mutual funds make money by charging investors a percentage of assets under management and may also charge a sales commission (load) upon fund purchase or redemption. Fund fees, called the expense ratio, can range from close to 0% to more than 2% depending on the fund's operating costs and investment style.
Is 401k a mutual fund?
A 401(k) is an employer-sponsored, tax-deferred retirement plan. The employer chooses the 401(k)'s investment portfolio, which often includes mutual funds. But a mutual fund is not a 401(k).
All investments carry some risk, but mutual funds are typically considered a safer investment than purchasing individual stocks. Since they hold many company stocks within one investment, they offer more diversification than owning one or two individual stocks.
Mutual funds come with many advantages, such as advanced portfolio management, dividend reinvestment, risk reduction, convenience, and fair pricing. Disadvantages include high fees, tax inefficiency, poor trade execution, and the potential for management abuses.
| Top large cap mutual funds | Annual Returns 2023 |
|---|---|
| Nippon India Large Cap Fund | 28.85% |
| Bank of India Bluechip Fund | 27.05% |
| HDFC Top 100 Fund | 26.61% |
| JM Large Cap Fund | 26.16% |
- Decide whether to go active or passive.
- Calculate your budget.
- Figure out your risk tolerance.
- Think about your asset allocation.
- Chasing hot-performing funds.
- Following a suggestion from family or friends.
- Pick the funds with the highest star ratings.
- Thinking bonds are too boring.
Among 2023′s best-performing funds: Baron Fifth Avenue Growth BFTIX, up 57.9%, and Fidelity Blue Chip Growth ETF FBCG, up 57.2%. Gains in both funds were fueled by the massive rally in Nvidia NVDA, which surged 230% this year. Meanwhile, value funds—especially small value—flipped to worst from best.
However, mutual funds are considered a bad investment when investors consider certain negative factors to be important, such as high expense ratios charged by the fund, various hidden front-end, and back-end load charges, lack of control over investment decisions, and diluted returns.
Downside risk is a general term for the risk of a loss in an investment, as opposed to the symmetrical likelihood of a loss or gain. Some investments have an infinite amount of downside risk, while others have limited downside risk.
If you hold shares in a taxable account, you are required to pay taxes on mutual fund distributions, whether the distributions are paid out in cash or reinvested in additional shares. The funds report distributions to shareholders on IRS Form 1099-DIV after the end of each calendar year.
| S.No. | Mutual Fund House |
|---|---|
| 1. | SBI Mutual Fund |
| 2. | ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund |
| 3. | HDFC Mutual Fund |
| 4. | Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund |
What is a better investment than mutual funds?
Mutual funds may pay capital gains distributions at the end of the year and dividends throughout the year, while ETFs may pay dividends throughout the year. But there's a difference in these payouts to investors, and ETF investors have an advantage here, too. ETFs may pay a cash dividend on a quarterly basis.
Unlike mutual funds, investment trusts can take on gearing, or borrowing additional money for investments, which unit trusts are not allowed to do. That means they can take bigger risks, meaning potentially bigger rewards or potentially bigger losses.
An investment in an open end scheme can be redeemed at any time. Unless it is an investment in an Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS), wherein there is a lock-in of 3 years from date of investment, there are no restrictions on investment redemption.
If you have been investing in mutual funds (MFs), then 2023 would've treated you well. Equities, gold, and fixed income yields have all gone up, putting them in a sweet spot for 2024, when interest rates should fall, as many experts have predicted.
Large cap, mid cap, and value funds are the best mutual funds to invest in 2024 based on their past one-year returns. Investing in mutual funds has always been a popular choice for investors seeking long-term growth and diversification.
