Investing Mutual Funds: The Basics

A mutual fund is a type of professionally managed collective investment vehicle that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. While there is no legal definition of the term "mutual fund", the term is most commonly applied only to those collective investment vehicles (i.e. investment companies) that are regulated and available to the general public for purchase. More often than not, a 'fund' is open-ended in nature, meaning investors can buy or sell shares from/to the fund. A ...