Mutual Funds Alternatives - Better Gains & Lower Risk With This Investment?

While many investors see mutual funds as a good long term investment, there is a better investment that not only has higher returns, but lower downside volatility.

What is the investment? It may surprise you.

It's UK land, with an average growth of 920% over 20 years and keep in mind this is just the average careful land plot selection has yielded far higher gains and downside volatility is low and gains compare very favourably to mutual funds.

Investments start at just $10,000 and there are plenty of specialist companies to help investors every step of the way, to big capital gains.

More international investors than ever before are looking at land as a solid investment alterative to traditional unit trusts and mutual funds for long term capital gains and the outlook for the future is bright.

UK land prices boom

The factors driving the boom are a rapidly expanding population and a huge shortage of affordable homes.

Land is needed to build new homes on and investors, who buy plots that have a good chance of being developed, can make a huge capital gain if planning permission is granted.

They can then sell and bank their profit.

Location is the key

While the growth in average UK land is impressive, the way to make really big gains is to buy land that has a good chance of being granted planning permission.

While many investors see mutual funds as a good long term investment, there is a better investment that not only has higher returns, but lower downside volatility.

Investors who have been able to do this have made gains of up to 400% in just 4 years and all this with low downside risk, which is much better than the bulk of mutual funds.

The downside

Of course, there is no certainty that the land bought will be granted planning permission, but downside is limited, as land tends to rise in value longer term anyway and many developers offer buyback options so investors can liquidate funds quickly.

Big gains and low risk

All investors want low risk and big gains, but it's a hard combination to find, however land is a proven solid long term investment and looks set to remain so for the foreseeable future, representing a viable alternative to mutual funds

As an investment in its own right, or one that is part of a diversified portfolio land can give you above average profit potential with low downside risk and the UK offers a great location to buy land.

Check out investing in land and you will see the attraction over traditional investments such as property and mutual funds:

Great long term growth, low risk, low minimum investments, specialist advice and liquidity all add up to an outstanding investment opportunity.

For more info on investing in land

Including a free land infopack that tells you everything you need to know about this outstanding opportunity, Visit:

http://www.lpgroupinternational.com

Investing In Bonds and Bond Mutual Funds Can Be A Good Deal.

Most people think of investing in Bonds as being a dry subject, and to a degree, they are right. However, boring can sometimes be a good thing, especially when it comes to investments. Too much "excitement" in your portfolio can lead to undue stress, so a diet rich in bonds and bond mutual funds can help smooth out the rough edges in a portfolio made up mostly of common stocks.

Bonds are generally considered to be less risky than stocks, but they are not without peril in their own right. The risk in a bond is directly related to the issuing company, and the type of debt instrument. Depending on the type of debt issued, and what underlying assets are involved, certain bond investments can be as risky or more risky than investing in stocks. But there's good news: with a higher risk generally comes a greater return.

Bonds tend to be less flexible to trade than common shares, so most individual investors will end up investing a a bond mutual fund. This has many advantages for the beginning investor, not the least of which is that she can rely on the investment experience of a firm that specializes in analyzing the companies, and their capability of repaying their notes.

The biggest risk associated with bonds is referred to as the interest rate risk. This term refers to changes in the market interest rates, which have a direct bearing on bond returns. Fixed-income securities, in general, move inversely with the changes in interest rates. What this means is that during a period of rising interest rates, like the current climate in the U.S. in 2006, people holding bonds will end up seeing declining bond returns. This will affect long-term issues the most.

In fact, the longer the time to maturity, the greater the risk of interest rate erosion becomes. For this reason, careful pruning of a bond portfolio becomes of greatest interest to the fund manager. One technique bond mutual funds use is staggering maturity dates so that they have less risk based on any one scenario. The great size of the funds allow them to do this easily and quickly.

The biggest risk for any bond holder is the risk that the company will default before making its' scheduled payments. This is directly related to how credit worthy the company is, and their capacity and will to repay their debts. Companies with lower credit ratings have to pay higher interest rates, just like consumers in the same boat. The worse the credit, the higher the interest rates to bond holders have to be in order to attract investment dollars. Companies with excellent credit ratings pay a much lower cost for capital, which is one of the reasons they have superior credit in the first place!

Whenever considering an investment in a bond, make sure first and foremost that the company has an excellent rating from Standard and Poors or Moody's. This will ensure they have the capacity to pay back your loan to them over the entire duration of the bond contract.

For more information on Bonds and Mutual Funds please visit the Investment Forum.

A Guide to Mutual Funds 

If you've been thinking about getting into investment but aren't sure what you should invest in, you might want to consider looking into investments in mutual funds. These funds are designed to provide a diverse investment opportunity for the shareholders who have purchased shares in the fund. They can be used as an easy way to create a diverse investment portfolio, or they can be used to accent your own portfolio with securities that have been chosen by the creator of the mutual fund.

The information below is designed to help you decide whether mutual funds are right for you, and includes more details of what mutual funds are, what sets them apart from other types of investments, and how to find the mutual funds that will best accent your investment style.

Defining Mutual Funds Before you can decide whether or not to invest in mutual funds, you need to know exactly what mutual funds are. These funds are a type of security that is traded on the stock market, enabling shareholders to purchase and sell shares in the funds as they choose. The money that is raised by the purchasing of shares by shareholders is utilized by the investment company that created the firm to purchase more shares of certain stocks, bonds, and other market securities and money market instruments.

As the value of the stocks, bonds, and other securities contained within the mutual fund rise and fall, the value of the fund itself fluctuates... the average value of each share of the mutual fund is determined each day as an average of the total value of all of the securities that are contained within the fund.

Because of this, shareholders who own part of a mutual fund are more directly involved with their investment than those who simply own individual securities and watch as they rise and fall.

Important Attributes of Mutual Funds

As was mentioned above, mutual funds are created by investment companies to purchase shares in various stocks and other securities. What this means for the mutual fund investor is that in addition to their ownership of shares of the mutual fund, they also have a limited claim of ownership of some of the securities contained within the mutual fund. In addition to this, mutual funds also benefit from having a built in system of diversification, as well as professional money management services that handle all of the money that is invested into the fund.

Shareholders are free to purchase additional shares or sell the shares that they already possess at any time, though the value of the shares fluctuates daily and therefore must be bought or sold with care so as to get the best value for the money.

Finding the Best Mutual Funds

Since the value of mutual funds varies from day to day, it can be difficult to find the funds that are best for your investment. Instead of tracking the funds as you would traditional stocks and securities, it's often better to investigate the mutual fund to determine which investment company is managing the fund and what specific securities are currently being held by the mutual fund itself.

Finding a mutual fund that is managed by an investment company that has a strong record of choosing lucrative investments is a good sign that the fund might be a smart buy, and securities held within a fund that are consistent performers can help add stability and security to an investment that may seem otherwise unstable.

You may freely reprint this article provided the following author's biography (including the live URL link) remains intact:

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help homeowners find the best available loans via the www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

 

Investing in Mutual Funds Online

Are you thinking of investing some money? There are thousands of different mutual funds that you can start investing your money in, but the question is how do you pick the best one to fit what you are looking for? Or maybe you're wondering if investing in mutual funds online is the right thing for you to do.

When you are setting up an account over the internet with your online broker, you must first meet three important requirements. Your computer must be able to connect to the internet, your web browser must be at least 128-bit compatible such as Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, and you must have at least a small amount of money if not more to start. Some online brokers require that you have as much as $1,000 or the equivalent in securities to open an account.

When investing in mutual funds, you should check around for different accounts that may be available. Some require you to place cash up front and others may not require any cash to open the account. You should do an extensive detailed search to find an account that fits your needs as well as your bank account. Your best research tool is the World Wide Web and it is right at your finger tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Investing in mutual funds online are always subject fees and this can be a tricky subject. Brokers charge fees and these can widely differ depending on the broker you choose to go with. Always read the fine print with anything dealing with money exchanging hands. There could be hidden fees or fees for changing funds that are within the same fund family. Some brokers don't charge any fees and these may be the ones you should look into. There are websites like http://www.globefund.com that can provide you with daily, monthly and historical mutual fund data. You can also view the performance charts of a particular fund and compare funds against each other. This is an easy way to find the one that is best for you.

 

James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest. Read more at www.best-for-mutual-funds.info

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