A legal document providing important information about a mutual fund. Filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available to all investors, the prospectus includes information on the fund's objectives and policies, risks, costs, past performance, fund fees, and other pertinent information to prospective investors. Back To [..]

An organization employed by a mutual fund to give professional advice on the fund's investment and asset management practices. Also called investment adviser.

The process of dividing your money between different types of assets, such as stocks, bonds and cash, to generate the overall return you need in a manner that is consistent with your risk tolerance.

A method for investing in mutual funds which enables a shareholder to select a specific amount to be withdrawn from a bank checking or savings account, or an automatic exchange from another mutual fund, on a regularly scheduled basis and invested in additional fund shares.

An IOU issued by a corporation, municipality or government agency. A bond issuer is borrowing money from you and other members of the public and, in exchange, promises to pay interest at regular intervals until the bond matures, at which time investors receive their principal back.

An investment objective of Capital Appreciation indicates you seek to grow the principal value of your investments over time and are willing to invest in securities that have historically demonstrated a moderate to above average degree of risk of loss of principal value to pursue this objective. Some examples of typical investments might include co [..]

A process by which investment earnings build up not only on the money originally invested but also on the earnings and gains made in previous years.

The interest rate percentage that an issuer of debt securities promises to pay over the life of the security.

An assessment of a particular issuer's creditworthiness which results in a rating being assigned. Ratings range from AAA (very high) to D (in default). Several companies study issuers and make ratings decisions, including Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Back To Top

The strategy of investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals regardless of financial market movements. The goal is to reduce the average cost per share, since you buy more shares when the price is low and fewer shares when the price is high. Back To Top