Mutual Fund
                    What is a Mutual Fund?
         •   A mutual fund is a pool of money managed by a professional 
             money manager.
         •   The objective and the risk level are outlined in a document 
             called a prospectus. The prospectus provides detailed 
             guidelines for the types of investments the manager can 
             purchase.
         •   A mutual fund is also known as an open-ended investment fund, 
             which means the fund sells units (of this pool on money) upon 
             request.  
        What are the benefits of 
      purchasing a mutual fund?
    1 Professional Management: The fund company hires talented money 
     managers who have many resources behind them (including a team 
     of people dedicated to researching, tracking, determining trends, and 
     doing thorough analysis), and who work full time on your behalf.
    2 Diversification: Lowers the risk because, regardless of the size of 
     your investment, each unit purchased is made up of many different 
     investments.
    3 Liquidity: Mutual funds can be sold anytime, and easily 
    4 Flexibility: Mutual funds allow you to purchase as much or as little as 
     you want, and offer a variety of purchase plans.
          What are the fees?
     Mutual funds can either be purchased through a:
    1 Front-end load: An investor pays a fee upfront (usually, a 
     percentage of the total investment).
    2 Back-end load: An investor doesn't pay an initial fee, but they 
     are locked into the fund family for a predetermined period of 
     time (outlined in the prospectus). If the investor holds the fund to 
     "maturity"of the "contract," they will never pay a fee. But, if they 
     choose to redeem early, they will have to pay a redemption fee, 
     which decreases on a percentage basis every year the fund is 
     held.
      What types of funds can I buy?
              Major Asset Classes:
    1 Money Market Funds
    2 Bond Funds
    3 Balanced Funds
    4 Dividend
    5 Equity Funds
    6 Specialty Funds