Howz investments in mutual funds?

[rupeeman]

I really need some fast advices about mutual funds are they beneficial or just for the sake of wasting my dollars?

[sweeps]

My "fast advices" would be to put your money in a high-yield savings account and take some time to learn about investing and mutual funds. You shouldn't jump into a mutual fund until you've researched it and made sure it meets your needs and goals.

[responduser]

I really need some fast advices about mutual funds are they beneficial or just for the sake of wasting my dollars?

Mutual funds are much more safer than stocks and the return is likely to be more than fixed deposits.

[disneysteve]

Mutual funds are much more safer than stocks and the return is likely to be more than fixed deposits.

I understand your thought process here, but it isn't really a complete answer. "Mutual fund" can mean a lot of different things from a money market mutual fund to a bond fund to a very concentrated stock fund holding just a handful of stocks to a highly diversified stock fund holding hundreds or thousands of stocks to a target retirement fund that holds a little bit of everything. Some of those funds may be safer than owning individual stocks while others may be far riskier than owning a shares in a few blue chip companies.

Returns from a money market fund or a bond fund may be very similar to other fixed income investments. Returns from more volatile mutual funds might be far higher or far lower than those of fixed income investments.

My point is that "mutual fund" is just a type of investment that comes in many different varieties and it is impossible to generalize about whether or not they are safe, have good returns or are worth investing in.

[petta]

first of all, you must to read mutual fund theory, for example on wikipedia.org

[petta]

or on About.com, Mutualfunds.com, Investopedia.com, etc.