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Mutual fund is a trust that pools money from a group of investors (sharing common financial goals) and invest the money thus collected into asset classes that match the stated investment objectives of the scheme. Since the stated investment objectives of a mutual fund scheme generally forms the basis for an investor’s decision to contribute money to the pool, a mutual fund can not deviate from its stated objectives at any point of time. Every Mutual Fund is managed by a fund manager, who using his investment management skills and necessary research works ensures much better return than what an investor can manage on his own. The capital appreciation and other incomes earned from these investments are passed on to the investors (also known as unit holders) in proportion of the number of units they own.
When an investor subscribes for the units of a mutual fund, he becomes part owner of the assets of the fund in the same proportion as his contribution amount put up with the corpus (the total amount of the fund). Mutual Fund investor is also known as a mutual fund shareholder or a unit holder. Any change in the value of the investments made into capital market instruments (such as shares, debentures etc) is reflected in the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the scheme. NAV is defined as the market value of the Mutual Fund scheme’s assets net of its liabilities. NAV of a scheme is calculated by dividing the market value of scheme’s assets by the total number of units issued to the investors. For example:
- If the market value of the assets of a fund is Rs 100,000
- The total number of units issued to the investors is equal to 10,000
- Then the NAV of this scheme = (A)/(B) i.e. 100,000/10,000 or 10.0
- Now if an investor ’X’ own 5 units of this scheme
- Then his total contribution to the fund is Rs. 50(i.e. Number of units held multiplied by the NAV of the scheme)
| S.No. |
Advantages |
Particulars |
| 1. |
Portfolio Diversification |
Mutual Funds invest in a well-diversified portfolio of securities which enables investor to hold a diversified investment portfolio (whether the amount of investment is big or small). |
| 2. |
Professional Management |
Fund manager undergoes through various research works and has better investment management skills which ensure higher returns to the investor than what he can manage on his own. |
| 3. |
Less Risks |
Investors acquire a diversified portfolio of securities even with a small investment in a Mutual Fund. The risk in a diversified portfolio is lesser than investing in merely 2 or 3 securities. |
| 4. |
Low Transaction Costs |
Due to the economies of scale (benefits of larger volumes), mutual funds pay lesser transaction costs. These benefits are passed on to the investors. |
| 5. |
Liquidity |
An investor may not be able to sell some of the shares held by him very easily and quickly, whereas units of a mutual fund are far more liquid. |
| 6. |
Choice of Schemes |
Mutual funds provide investors with various schemes with different investment objectives. Investors have the option of investing in a scheme having a correlation between its investment objectives and their own financial goals. These schemes further have different plans/options |
| 7. |
Transparency |
Funds provide investors with updated information pertaining to the markets and the schemes. All material facts are disclosed to investors as required by the regulator. |
| 8. |
Flexibility |
Investors also benefit from the convenience and flexibility offered by Mutual Funds. Investors can switch their holdings from a debt scheme to an equity scheme and vice-versa. Option of systematic (at regular intervals) investment and withdrawal is also offered to the investors in most open-end schemes. |
| 9. |
Safety |
Mutual Fund industry is part of a well-regulated investment environment where the interests of the investors are protected by the regulator. All funds are registered with SEBI and complete transparency is forced. |
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