Write an article based on this "Visit MorningStar.com. Visit Zacks. Research fund objectives. Compare fund performances. Find a fund's inception (origination) date. Research the total assets under management. Determine the investment requirements. Request a prospectus."
MorningStar is one the most respected investment-research firms. Their website contains information and news about mutual funds and other types of investments. You can access some of the information available through Morningstar for free just by visiting the site. Some of their data, however, is accessible only by paid membership. The company does offer a free basic membership allowing access to most of the basic information you need. Another well-respected source of information about mutual funds and their performances is Zacks.com. This research firm provides a lot of useful information free of charge. Using the sites above, you can begin narrowing down the field of mutual funds. Start by looking at the objectives of the various funds, and try to pick one that aligns with your own objectives and risk profile. Each fund will have a specific objective. You can find it in the prospectus and in MorningStar reports. The objective indicates what the fund is attempting to do and how it attempts to do it. These objectives will normally fit within the four fund dimensions discussed in Part 1 above. Once you've selected some funds that interest you, take time to see how well they have performed. Look at their historical performances, compare them to those of other similar funds and benchmarks, and collect any other information you can. There are several online sources that can provide this information. Some even allow for side-by-side comparisons of different mutual funds. This information is available in the fund's prospectus and various online sources of financial information. This date is important to know. A longer history is more telling than a shorter history. Having more investing experience is better than having less. A longer period of time allows a more valid comparison with other funds. It's smart to check how long the present fund manager has been in control of this fund (or other funds). It would also be valuable to know if the manager has invested his/her own money in the fund. Morningstar and Lipper are two online sources of such information. AUM is a measure of the total market value of a fund's investments. You want the fund to hold a portfolio large enough that it demonstrates investor confidence and can handle sudden, large redemptions. However, there's such a thing as a fund being too large. Having too much money under management can make a fund unwieldy and inflexible. This is hard to quantify, but with experience you'll begin to develop a sense about it. (Some funds will actually close themselves to additional cash inflow to prevent this unwieldiness.) This is less important than the other considerations discussed above. Think of a large portfolio as a good indication of a fund's success at picking profitable, long-held investments. Each fund will have specific requirements about the minimum investment necessary to open an account. They will also have a minimum for additional purchases. Find a fund you can afford that fits your investor profile. The initial investment and additional investments might be as little as $100. Some ETFs will permit an initial investment as low as the price of a single share. You will find this information on the website of the fund company as well as in the prospectus for the fund. A prospectus is a long, detailed document. It has all the legal definitions about what the fund can invest in, how it is managed and other technical information. You can have the company send you a hard copy of the prospectus or download it from the website. A prospectus can be overwhelming. The federal government mandates that the most important information be easily found and clearly explained. You can find this material at the beginning of the prospectus. It is often highlighted or italicized. This section is called the summary prospectus. The summary prospectus will describe the fund's investment objectives and strategies. It will also cover the principal risks of investing in the fund and the fund's fees and expenses. Finally, the summary prospectus will discuss the fund's past performance. You can find more detailed information in the full "statutory" prospectus that follows the summary prospectus. This will include information relating to the fund's investment advisors and portfolio managers. It will also provide details on how to purchase and redeem shares. Most of the relevant information will be available from other sources, too, such as Morningstar. It's a good idea, however, to read the actual prospectus for any mutual fund you are seriously considering. For more information on mutual fund prospectuses, visit the SEC website at SEC.gov. That site is an excellent source of general investment information.