American investors have increasingly turned to mutual funds to help them reach their financial goals, including saving for retirement and funding a child’s college education.1 In fact, more than 88 million people, or almost half of all households in America, invest in mutual funds.2 There are many benefits to investing through mutual funds, most commonly, diversification and professional management. This section will provide you with information to assist you in determining what type of mutual fund complements your financial goals and tolerance for risk.
1Securities and Exchange Commission, 2009.
2Mutual Fund Education Alliance.
Who has the time to study the markets, keep track of individual company news, and pay attention to the economy day after day after day? If you're a novice investor, the task of becoming familiar with investment concepts and jargon is that much harder. And it's the rare investor who has thousands or even millions of dollars to make a meaningful investment in more than a few stocks or bonds at a time. For all of these reasons, millions of investors opt to put their money into what is called a mutual fund. A mutual fund is a collection of securities owned by a group of investors. A mutual fund company pools the money of many investors, its shareholders, for greater buying power. This combined money is then invested in a number of stocks and bonds on behalf of all the shareholders.
Today's investors are faced with numerous investment choices. The variety of products available seems endless, which can make choosing an investment even more confusing. That is why many Americans rely on mutual fund professionals to invest their money. Professional money managers have the experience, knowledge, and tools to manage mutual funds based on a specific investment objective. No matter what your financial goals are, there is a mutual fund designed to meet it.
Mutual funds offer a number of benefits for most investors, including:
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Diversification* |
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Most mutual funds invest in many different individual securities -- typically 50 or more. To do the same, an individual investor might need to have many thousands, or even millions, of dollars to invest and a great deal of time.
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Professional Management |
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Mutual funds are run portfolio managers who decide where to invest shareholders' money. These professionals can devote themselves full-time to monitoring market and economic trends. They should have the skills and resources to carefully analyze economic and financial data and to identify the investments with the best potential. They chart trends, scrutinize individual companies, and ensure that the fund's portfolio is fully diversified – which reduces your exposure to the ups and downs of individual securities.
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Choice |
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Mutual funds offer a variety of investment options to meet your needs. Whether you're seeking short-term income, hoping to gain tax advantages or looking to achieve long-term growth, mutual funds provide you with choices that can match your investment needs today and for the future.
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Flexibility |
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You can usually buy, exchange, or sell fund shares anytime, which makes it easy for you to adjust your investment portfolio as your needs change.
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Convenience |
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Mutual funds offer a convenient way to begin investing in the market. Many fund companies make it easy for you to move money from your bank account into a mutual fund or funds. In many cases, you can also set up a program to automatically transfer a set amount of money from your bank account into a fund on a regular basis.
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Although investing can be profitable over the long term, you should know that it can involve a considerable amount of risk. Unlike bank deposits, mutual funds are not insured or guaranteed by the U.S. government or any other financial institution. In other words, you could lose some or all of the money that you invest. |
Mutual funds now number in the thousands and run the gamut from conservative money market funds to ultra-aggressive stock funds. "Conservative" investments are those that have relatively modest risk/reward potential, with a lot of emphasis placed on preserving the value of your initial investment and/or on generating regular income. That being said, it is important to note that you can still lose money in a so-called "conservative" investment. "Aggressive" investments are those that take on a greater degree of risk for potentially greater long-term capital appreciation.
A Spectrum of Choices
The following spectrum is designed to give you a general idea of the risk/return potential of various types of mutual funds. The funds are listed by their "objective," which helps to indicate what area of the market they focus on and what strategies their portfolio managers employ in pursuing their goal.
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| Common Objective: Preservation of capital*; some current income |
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Short-term government securities |
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Short-term money market securities |
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Short-term tax-exempt municipal obligations |
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| Common Objective: Current income; some capital appreciation |
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U.S. government bonds |
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U.S. corporate bonds |
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Tax-free municipal bonds |
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Foreign bonds (government and corporate) |
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| Common Objective: Capital appreciation |
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Dividend-paying stocks |
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Growth stocks |
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Emerging growth stocks |
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International stocks |
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Emerging markets stocks |
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* An investment in money market funds is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although money market funds seek to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.
** Income may be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax and state and local taxes.
International investing involves special risks including currency risk,
political risks, increased volatility of foreign securities and differences
in auditing and other financial standards. Prices
of emerging markets securities can be significantly more volatile than
the prices of securities in developed countries and currency risk and political risks are accentuated in emerging markets.
Small company stocks may be less liquid and subject to greater price volatility
than large capitalization stocks.
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Investing with Huntington Funds
Whatever your financial goals are, short or long-term, Huntington Funds should have a mutual fund to match your personal objectives based on your risk tolerance. Click here to learn more about the Huntington Mutual Fund Family.
Before you invest, you should evaluate your financial goals and discuss with your financial or tax advisor what investment strategy will be right for you.
To open a new account, call 1.800.253.0412 or download an application here.
Call us
1.800.253.0412
Monday through Friday, between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM ET.
Broker Dealer or Registered Representative Support: 1.866.HUNTFUND
Email us
Huntingtonfunds@huntington.com
Mailing Address
Overnight Delivery:
Unified Fund Services, Inc.
2960 N. Meridian St., Ste 300
Indianapolis, IN 46208
Regular Mail Delivery:
Unified Fund Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 6110
Indianapolis, IN 46206-6110
*Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.
Government bonds and Treasury bills are guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States government as to the timely payment of principal and interest. With corporate bonds, an investor is a creditor of the corporation and the bond is subject to default risk. High-yield corporate bonds exhibit significantly more risk of default than investment grade corporate bonds. Municipal bonds may be subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) and state and local taxes, and federal taxes would apply to any capital gains distributions. International bonds are not guaranteed. International investments involve special risks such as fluctuations in currency, foreign taxation, economic and political risks, and differences in accounting and financial standards.
International investing involves special risk including currency risk, political risk, increased volatility of foreign securities and differences in auditing and other financial standards. In addition, prices of emerging markets securities can be significantly more volatile than the prices of securities in developed countries.
There are risks involved in investing in emerging markets securities, which tend to be more volatile and less liquid than securities traded in developed countries.
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