FAP Turbo

Make Over 90% Winning Trades Now!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

How Mutual Funds Started

By Jeffrey Mute

Perhaps you are considering mutual funds as a form of investment because youve been hearing so much about it. Questions, like what is it that makes mutual funds so popular and will you be able to benefit from it, enter your mind as you ponder if it is the right type of investment for you. For starters, mutual funds are very popular because it can give impressive returns of investments.

Aside from traditional investment options such as money market accounts and certificate of deposits, a mutual fund is one investment opportunity a novice can take part of. Stock markets and bonds are good investment options, but not all people have the time to learn the ins and outs of the trade. Thus, a mutual fund is perfect for a beginner as it allows you to test the waters before putting a huge amount of money in. A good advantage of mutual funds is the fact that it spreads its assets over several investment vehicles to minimize risks.

But before becoming what it is today, mutual funds underwent several modifications. Historians are still divided as to the actual establishment of mutual funds. Some believe it was during the launching of the closed-end investment companies of King William I in the Netherlands in 1822. Others say it was Adriaan van Ketwitch who came up with the idea of mutual funds in 1774, when he created an investment trust.

Nonetheless, Great Britain and France recognized how sound the investment opportunity is and established mutual fund companies in their respective countries. The United States caught up with these countries only in the 1890s. The mutual fund of today is very much different from the mutual funds of the past. But the establishment of the Alexander Fund in Pennsylvania paved the way for the modern version of the mutual fund. In the following years, features like the ability to do withdrawals on request and semi-annual issues were added.

It was only with the establishment of the Massachusetts Investors Trust in 1924 that the modern mutual fund came to be. Roughly a year after the creation of the Trust, it has acquired assets totaling to almost $400,000.00 with 200 shareholders. In 1928, the fund offered its shares to the public. In the same year, another fund called the Wellington Fund was established. It was the first fund to include stocks and bonds as their investment options. Because of this the prices of stocks continued to rise making 1928 one of the most glorious years in mutual fund history.

Not long after came the Wall Street Crash of 1929. This was the worst stock market crash in history, which led to the Great Depression. But one positive thing emerged from these downtimes. Finally, the government noticed the advantage of the mutual fund industry and subsequently passed several laws to protect the investors.

This move was welcomed by the investors and trading in the stock market began to increase again. From then on, the mutual fund industry continued to flourish. Throughout the decades, more and more people become interested in mutual funds with its popularity ever climbing.

Now, it has continued to thrive and has become the most preferred investment option of investors. Mutual funds have truly proven itself throughout the years. Thus, you wont really wonder why a lot of people want to invest their hard-earned money in mutual funds because the industry has great potential to grow even more. - 23222

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home