Mutual Fund

A mutual fund is a type of financial vehicle made up of a pool of money collected from many investors to invest in securities like stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other assets.

Mutual funds are operated by professional money managers, who allocate the fund's assets and attempt to produce capital gains or income for the fund's investors. A mutual fund's portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus. Investing in Mutual funds is the best way for investors before taking direct entry into equity/debt markets. It should be the first step and it helps you to understand how equity/debt markets functions and how fluctuations in equity/debt markets affect returns. It is one of the best tool to justify your hard earned money.

There are different type of funds as per investment Philosophy :

Open ended funds– Open for investors to enter/ exit always.

Close ended funds–Have fixed maturity, investor can by units only during NFO.

Interval funds -Combine features of both open-ended and close-ended schemes.

Mutual fund scheme categorization :

Equity Schemes - An Equity Fund is a Mutual Fund Scheme that invests predominantly in shares/stocks of companies. They are also known as Growth Funds.

Debt Schemes- A debt fund is a Mutual Fund scheme that invests in fixed income instruments, such as Corporate and Government Bonds, corporate debt securities, and money market instruments etc. Debt funds are also referred to as Fixed Income Funds or Bond Funds.

Hybrid Schemes- Hybrid Funds are mutual fund schemes which invest in more than one asset class i.e., equity, debt and other asset classes depending on the investment objective of the scheme. Hybrid funds have the potential to generate relatively better returns than debt funds while being less risky than equity funds.

Solution Oriented Schemes- ls known as balanced allocation schemes, such solution-oriented plans aim to achieve an optimal balance between risk and return by investing in both equity and debt securities. Depending upon the risk aptitude of investors, any respective type of solution-oriented schemes can be chosen.

Other Schemes- Like Index funds/Exchange traded funds. Fund of Funds (Overseas /Domestic).