Mutual Funds           

By selling shares of the funds to the public mutual funds raise money. Alike other type of companies, mutual funds sell stock to the public. The money received from the sale of their shares is used to purchase a variety of investment vehicles, such as stocks, bonds and money market instruments. In return for the money they give to the fund when purchasing shares, shareholders receive an equity position in the fund and, in effect, in each of its underlying securities. For most mutual funds shareholders are free to sell their shares at any time, although the price of a share in a mutual fund will fluctuate daily, depending upon the performance of the securities held by the fund.

Benefits of Mutual Funds:

• Diversification: by pooling funds, there is more opportunity of investment, since mutual funds invest in a variety of securities.
• Professional Management: as a mutual fund investor, there is access to professional managers, who will perform a thorough research on the companies chosen to invest.
• Liquidity: in open-ended scheme, the returns are at net asset value related prices from the mutual fund itself.
• Transparency: due to regulations, mutual funds industry is very transparent. Investments can be tracked down, to see where the money has gone.
• Variety: there is a type of mutual fund that matches almost any investing strategy selected by the investor. There are many types of mutual funds, including asset allocation fund, balanced fund, blend fund, bond fund, capital appreciation fund, clone fund, closed fund, crossover fund, equity fund, fund of funds, global fund, growth fund, growth and income fund, etc.

Some jurisdictions where mutual funds are available are:

• Anguilla
• Belize
• BVI
• Cook Islands
• Mauritius
• Panama
• Saint Vincent