Most funds have their shares or units valued daily. This means that investors may purchase shares or units on any business day, and in most cases, may redeem or sell those units or shares back to the fund on any business day. There are hundreds of funds available in Canada offering a broad range of investment objectives and investing in a variety of securities and in a variety of geographical locations. For example, there are funds that invest in Canadian common stocks, US common stocks and international common stocks. There are also funds that invest in the stocks of specific industries, such as natural resources or oil and gas stocks.
Some funds invest only in gold other precious commodities.
There are dividend funds which aim to maximize dividend income. In addition, there are bond funds and mortgage funds. There are also various types of money market or savings funds based on fixed income or guaranteed investment. Real estate funds invest in real estate. There are balanced funds which balance their holdings between bonds and stocks, depending on how the manager perceives economic conditions at that time.