Mutual Funds

Are you looking for a way by which to grow your money other than putting it in traditional bank products? You may want to consider investing in mutual funds wherein your money will be pooled with that of other investors and will be managed by professional investment managers.

You do not need a big amount to invest in mutual funds. Some mutual funds will accept investments of as low as P10,000. You will need to invest your money, however, for say, 5 years or more to maximize returns and to minimize fees to be paid.

Returns on mutual fund investments are not guaranteed. It is then important to choose carefully the fund that you will be dealing with and the type of fund to invest in. If the fund you have chosen is diligent enough, most likely, they will do an assessment of your risk profile, financial condition, and financial needs first. Investors usually have a choice of investing in any of the following portfolio: Equity fund (stock investments), bond fund, balanced fund (combination of the bond and equity funds) and money market fund. If you are conservative and quite risk averse, your fund manager may recommend going for the bond fund where the investments are less risky but will of course, most likely generate not so high returns. Assuming that you choose your fund well, however, you will be able to generate higher returns than what you would be able to get from investing or putting your money in a traditional bank product.

Here is a site that you may check out to get more information on mutual funds: www.icap.com.ph You may need to be a member of the Investment Company Association of the Philippines to access some of the information here but you can also call them up at (02) 845-1945 for any inquiries on fund members, as well as their respective performance and statistical reports.