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Investing in Mutual Funds
Explore the advantages of investing in mutual funds
Mutual funds offer investors literally thousands of investing choices across asset classes, sectors and many other categories. Learn about mutual funds, and the different tools and services we offer, such as the TD Ameritrade Premier List, to help you choose a fund for your investment strategy.
Explore the information and resources below to learn about the number of factors you should consider before investing in a mutual fund. If you have questions along the way, contact one of our Mutual Fund Specialists for help.
Understanding the basics
Mutual funds are a professionally managed portfolio of investments backed by capital from a pool of investors. Each fund family has its own stated goals or objectives, as well as risk/reward level. Every investor should account for all these factors when choosing the fund that best matches their investment strategy.
Unlike stocks that trade during the day, the share price of a mutual fund is determined at the end of the trading day. That price is known as the net asset value, or NAV. The NAV is the sum total of the value of all the holdings within the fund.
Investing in mutual funds
Some things to consider before investing in mutual funds:
Choices: There is a huge variety of mutual fund for investors to choose from today that span across many asset classes, such as stock and bonds, and investment styles, such as value, growth, or dividend investing.
Diversification: Many investors add mutual funds to their portfolio to mitigate risk from other holdings or simply diversify their overall portfolio.
Access: Mutual funds give investors access to equities that would normally be out of reach for investors with a small amount of capital.
Professional Management: Investors that don’t want to manage a large batch of holdings on their own can delegate the responsibility to fund managers will monitor, adjust and reallocate as needed.
Many No-Transaction-Fee Funds: There are hundreds of no-transaction-fee (NTF) funds to choose from—you can easily find the best one for your respective strategies and goals.
Selecting your mutual funds
Before finally choosing a mutual fund, there are a number of considerations you need to take into account, such as each fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. A thoughtful and objective approach during your selection process is the smartest way to help protect your investment.
A great place to do some simple homework is our mutual fund research section, which allows you to browse and research different categories of funds. Plus as a client, you gain access to expert mutual fund research, such as Premier List.
Afterward, it will be important to continue monitoring the performance of your mutual fund to ensure it’s still aligned with your strategy and interests at the time.
Exclusive tools to help you start
With access to TD Ameritrade’s exclusive Premier List and powerful research tools, you can analyze, compare, screen and evaluate your current fund holdings to help maximize your mutual fund investments.
Narrow your choices with a list of funds, powered by Morningstar Research Services.
Analyze your mutual fund holdings based on asset allocation, Morningstar style box, sector, stock type and more with data powered by Morningstar Research Services.
Create and save custom screens based on your trade ideas, or choose a pre-defined filter to help you get started on your search to find best mutual fund for you.