The Five Flavors of Mutual Funds

By Sara Ferguson

Mutual funds come in five flavors; within these five categories are many different types of funds, so you can find a mutual fund that is tailored to your individual needs. Below is a brief description of the different funds:

Municipal bond funds: Mutual funds that invest in local and state governments. The dividends of municipal bond funds are usually free from federal taxes.

Hybrid funds: Mutual funds that invest in both stocks and bonds. Hybrid funds are structured to achieve predetermined objectives such as rapid growth, matching a market benchmark, or investing in one industry. To sum up, hybrid funds use combinations of securities to meet their investment objectives.

Hybrid funds: Mutual funds that invest in both stocks and bonds. Hybrid funds are structured to achieve predetermined objectives such as rapid growth, matching a market benchmark, or investing in one industry. To sum up, hybrid funds use combinations of securities to meet their investment objectives.

Bond funds: Mutual funds that usually invest in the debt instruments of corporations and governments. Investors in bond funds are primarily seeking income with some protection of principal. Frequently, the only way an average investor has access to an expensive bond is through a bond mutual fund. Usually, bond funds are conservative and target the payment of dividends. Investors can choose among several types of bond funds. Investment grade bond funds usually have less risk than funds with stocks, but they arent risk-free. These types of bond funds are usually good investment choices for short-, medium-, and long-term investors who desire low risk. Investment-grade bond funds focus on current income.

Money market funds: Mutual funds that invest in the short-term debts of corporations and the federal government. Money market funds often invest in Treasury bills, commercial paper, bankers acceptances, negotiable certificates of deposit (CDs), and short-term debts of U.S. government agencies such as Ginnie Mae (www.ginniemae.gov). Money market funds provide less return and less risk than other types of mutual funds and are good investments for short-term investors. The principal advantage of these funds is their safety. Also, if you ever need to get to your money fast, money market funds may be the type of fund for you.

As always, read the details of an investment before making a commitment. Each investment is different and the risks will be different as well. Beginning investors often make the mistake of not finding out all the details before proceeding; do not just look at the profit you could make from the investment. - 23200

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How to Invest Today is a news and educational website dedicated to investing in today's world. How to Invest Today offers the latest news and tips on investing.

Learn Online Forex Trading Now

By John Eather

In the past years, online forex trading was pretty limited. Only those banks and big financial institutions were the only ones that were using it. Now, due to the technology advancements and the availability over the Internet, brokerage firms, government agencies and even individuals like you are able to do forex trading on the Internet. Online forex trading is known for being the biggest financial market in the world. This is all because of how much business is handled each and every day.

If you are interested in getting a piece of that currency market's pie, then chances are, if you have the Internet and a computer, then you will be able to do so. The trading systems are generally provided by a number of different online brokers. This means there are a number of such systems on the market today.

There is no closing time for trading over the Internet. That's right, you can trade of all hours of the day, no matter where your geographical location is. When it comes to opening up a forex account, it is very easy to do on the world wide web. However, you need to make sure you are able to deal with the same type of currencies that the trader is interested in.

You will be able to find some practice accounts that are free. These practice accounts will give you the chance to test out your skills and see if forex trading is really for you. In the old days, it was either for you, or it wasn't. You didn't realize you didn't like it until you spent time and money on it.

Online forex trading does not involve any type of exchange fees, commission or hidden costs. The trade will be conducted at a fast pace and there will be no type of delay involved in it. You will be able to execute the trade in only a matter of seconds. - 23200

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Receive John Eather's FREE Forex Trading eCourse right now and find out how Online Forex Trading really works! Learn a proven way to earn an income with forex trading and click on http://www.moneymakingfxtrader.com now.

Futures commodity trading basics

By Mark Andrews

Many people see pictures of the large crowd of traders standing in a crowd yelling and signaling with their hands, holding pieces of paper, and writing frantically. To the outsider, it looks like chaos. But do you really think that there's chaos going on in the world's futures pits?

In this article, you'll learn a bit about the trading of futures, so that you will know exactly what's going on when you see it depicted somewhere.

Today's futures trading floor is much different than it was when it first began quite a long time ago. They'd set up a stall on the roadside, and sit and wait for someone to buy something. Often, their crops would spoil because the farmers had no way to preserve or store them.

Also, because many farmers would bring their crops to market at the same time, the price of the crops or commodities would be driven down. There was tremendous supply in relation to demand. The reverse was true in the spring. Many times there would be a shortage of crops and commodities and the price would rise sharply. There was no organized or central marketplace where competitive bidding could take place.

Up until now, there wasn't a way for people to easily place bids on commodities. Then, the market started using "forward contracts", and these contracts were a forerunner to the commodity futures market we know today.

Futures prices and the bid and asked price are continuously transmitted throughout the world electronically. Regardless of what geographic location the speculator or hedger is located in, he has the same access to price information as everyone else.

Farmers, bankers, manufacturers, corporations, all have equal access. All they have to do is call their broker and arrange for the purchase or sale of a futures contract. The person who takes the opposite side of your trade may be a competitor who has a different outlook on the future price, it may be a floor broker, or it could be a speculator. - 23200

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learn more about futures commodity trading now!

Best Forex Broker - what is it?

By Anne Vardell

Looking for the Best Forex Brokers and trading locations is somewhat like looking for the mature in the haystack that you have heard about all your life . They are out there and once you put a excellent one they can potentially make you several money so you'll want to hang on to them. The biggest challenge is to discover one that is consistently good and will work fine with you. He or she could be tops in their field and yet if there is troubles communicating with them, they won't do you any good . The best rule is to open and honest with each other.

Web searches will help out. They will help out you locate some probable folks and start narrowing down the field . You will also speak to friends and others that are trading and see who they think the greatest forex broker trader might be. The trouble is that if they obtain someone that is doing a great job for them, they may be reluctant to change you on to their person . But it's a start and it may provide you a foundation from where to judge .

several brokers now days may let you to give them a check out before you commit. They know it is a hard business and they want to get yours so they must be willing to let you give them a test run without long-term commitments. If they don't you might want to look elsewhere for someone that may. The best forex broker may do what they can to earn your business, a bad one may not.

What you will need to look at is to be sure that the broker you are getting is regulated. While that will not guarantee success, it will give you the peace of mind of knowing they are more likely to be honest in the dealing s with you. Remember that the best forex brokers stay in business by doing good business practices.

Trades are made by means of spreads, fixed or variable. Depending on what you are doing one in fact might be a better deal than the other and so you may find that the best forex brokers will keep you informed on this.

ensure that you know upfront what the expenditures are. The best forex brokers may assist spell it out for you on the costs of the spreads and the commissions. They want you trading with them so they want to stay you as happy as they can and knowing these figures will help alleviate surprises.

You require a decent platform and the best most excellent is one that allows automated trading and single click execution.

The most forex brokers get to be that way because of great customer service. This is what will save you if there are disputes and / or problems so make sure that the one you choose has high ratings in this area and you will be a lot happier in the long run even in the circumstance you do not do so well. - 23200

About the Author:

Anne Vardell's online trading review guide. Providing the best, up-to-date information on the best in stock market results tips!

Uncover the Myths of Stock Trading

By W. Alan Gay

I've been a Stock Trader for over 15 years, and know the business inside and out. I didn't start at a fancy brokerage firm with sophisticated training courses. Instead, I made my success my own way, failing here, tweaking there, using seminars and self taught classes to learn what I needed as I went.

While I may have taken longer to succeed using this self taught method, it has given me a lot more real world knowledge of stock trading than I would have gotten following the one process taught by my employer. For one, I have found a number of myths that crop up again and again when talking to people about stock trading. Here are three of them:

First, is the myth that only certain types of people make successful stock traders. True, those folks who can analyze stock trends and pick the big winners are typically left brained thinkers (more than 60%), which is probably how this myth originated.

But there really is something in stock trading for every type of thinker. If you aren't a left brained analytical type, you just need to find a process that works well for you. I am definitely right brained, and I am being completely honest when I tell you I would hate to sit around and analyze stocks all day. Despite this, I have made a great living trading stocks. Anyone else can too.

The second misconception is that stock trading has a lot of risk to it, even more than running a small business. Now, I will be the first to admit that plenty of people have lost everything in the stock market, and of course those are the stories we see splashed over the papers that terrify a lot of people.

But I have learned that if you have the right process in place for setting your stops and limiting your risks to a level that you are comfortable with, it can really be a very low risk profession. For example, I have created a system for myself that allows me to trade with a 75% or more success rate, which is fantastic! I know of no other business that can give me that kind of low risk situation.

Finally, I hear again and again that to really make money in the stock market you must commit to it full time and then some. And I agree, this is absolutely true for some types of trading and particularly if you don't have a good stock picking service. Then you have to do all the leg work in a fast paced environment. That does take a lot of time.

However, it is absolutely possible to make a great career out of trading stock for 2-4 hours a day, and having the rest of your time to do what you want. The trick is to have a process in place that is low risk and efficient with your time. How do you find such a process? There are a lot of courses available and it can be tricky to find the one that's right for you. I advise you to investigate several options, ask questions (if there's no one who will answer your questions, move on...life is too short to deal with bad customer service). Head into your research knowing the right process is there for you, and you will be on your way to success at stock trading in no time. - 23200

About the Author:

W. Alan Gay has been a stock trader and coach for fifteen years. His free report describes Alan's voyage to becoming accomplished at trading stocks and gives useful techniques he and his students have used to consistently trade profitably. Click to obtain a free copy of his report and learn more about how you could be a profitable stock trader in as little as fourteen days.