“. . . Learn how to invest in mutual funds with these informative tips.”

This Money/CNN article provides the following 10 statements along with a brief explanation of each statement to help beginning investors learn about fund investing.

1. What exactly is a mutual fund?
2. Mutual funds make it easy to diversify.
3. There are many kinds of stock funds.
4. Bond funds come in many different flavors too.
5. Returns aren’t everything – also consider the risk taken to achieve those returns.
6. Low expenses are crucial.
7. Taxes take a big bite out of performance.
8. Don’t chase winners.
9. Index funds should be a core component of your portfolio.
10. Don’t be too quick to dump a fund.

For more information, click here. 

Teaching Suggestions

You may want to use the information in this blog post and the original article to

• Provide an introduction to the “basics” of mutual fund investing.
• Point out that this is just one article in the Money/CNN series. By clicking on the next button at the bottom of this article, students can access more articles and obtain more in-depth information about fund investing.

Discussion Questions

1. Based on the information in this article, why do you think investors choose mutual funds?
2. The article mentions that there are both stock and bond funds. What is the difference between these two types of funds?  Which type of funds do you think could help you achieve your financial goals?
3. Why are taxes and expenses important when you choose a mutual fund?