A fund that combines both equity and fixed-income products to provide investors with a degree of both capital protection and capital appreciation. These…

The investment approach or objective that a fund manager uses to make choices in the selection of securities for the fund's portfolio. While there are…

Created by Morningstar, a style box is designed to visually represent the investment characteristics of fixed-income (bond), domestic equity (stock) and…

The divergence of a mutual fund from its stated investment style or objective. Style drift occurs as a result of intentional portfolio investing decisions…

An atypical fund structure in which a fund, such as a hedge fund or mutual fund, is managed by another management team or firm than where the assets are…

More specific holdings of a general category of assets. A sub-asset class is a collection of assets that have common characteristics within both the asset…

An account created in 1982 that offers a higher interest rate than a NOW account but lower interest than a money market account. Specific requirements…

The amount of time an investor must wait until he or she can withdraw funds from an annuity without facing a penalty. Withdrawing money before the agreed-upon…

The tendency for mutual funds with poor performance to be dropped by mutual fund companies, generally because of poor results or low asset accumulation…

1. In mutual funds, the process of transferring an investment from one fund to another. 2. In securities, the process of liquidating a position in exchange…

This is a plan where investors make regular, equal payments into a mutual fund, trading account or retirement account, such as a 401k. By using a systematic…

A service offered by a mutual fund that provides a specific payout amount to the shareholder at predetermined intervals, generally monthly, quarterly…

An active management portfolio strategy that rebalances the percentage of assets held in various categories in order to take advantage of market pricing…

A mutual fund in the hybrid category that automatically resets the asset mix (stocks, bonds, cash equivalents) in its portfolio according to a selected…

A mutual fund that focuses on the distribution of income and capital gains to fund holders. These funds are becoming more popular as our population ages…

A mutual fund in which structure and operations are based on reducing the tax liability that its shareholders face. Reducing the tax liability of a fund…

An account that is set up within a fund to hold a balance as a result of a significant cash inflow or outflow to a fund. The account is set up to hold…

The name given to institutions that sell or distribute mutual funds to investors for fund management companies without direct relation to the fund itself…

A mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that seeks to replicate a broad bond index by owning many securities across a range of maturities, from both public…

A measure of the total costs associated with managing and operating an investment fund such as a mutual fund. These costs consist primarily of management…

A mutual fund or ETF that seeks to replicate the broad market by holding the stock of every security that trades on a certain exchange, invests in a certain…

An index fund that tracks a broad market index or a segment thereof. Such a fund invests in all, or a representative number, of the securities within…

A fee that a mutual fund manager pays to a salesperson who sells the fund to investors. The trailer fee pays the salesperson for providing the investor…

1. A formal document which outlines the terms of a trust agreement.2. A common way to structure real estate purchases, where the title to a property is…

The percentage of a mutual fund or other investment vehicle's holdings that have been "turned over" or replaced with other holdings in a given year. The…

A class of exchange-traded funds (ETF) that employs leverage in an effort to achieve double the return of a set benchmark. The first ultra ETFs were launched…

A public limited company that coordinates the distribution and management of unit trusts amongst countries within the European Union. These funds can…

1. A situation where a portfolio does not hold a sufficient amount of a particular security when compared to the security's weight in the underlying benchmark…

An investment company that offers a fixed, unmanaged portfolio, generally of stocks and bonds, as redeemable "units" to investors for a specific period…

An unincorporated mutual fund structure that allows funds to hold assets and pass profits through to the individual owners, rather than reinvesting them…

An index that tracks the monthly performance of a hypothetical $1000 investment. The calculation for the current month's VAMI is:= Previous VAMI x (1…

A technique used to estimate the probability of portfolio losses based on the statistical analysis of historical price trends and volatilities. VaR is…

A stock mutual fund that primarily holds stocks that are deemed to be undervalued in price and that are likely to pay dividends. Value funds are one of…

A class of ETFs offered by Vanguard and traded like any other share on the American Stock Exchange. There are presently 27 Vanguard ETFs with underlying…

An investment fund that manages money from investors seeking private equity stakes in startup and small- and medium-size enterprises with strong growth…

A mutual fund that invests in gaming, such as casino operators and gaming equipment, alcohol, tobacco and aerospace/defense sectors. The fund invests…

An investment method in which a retail investor periodically invests (at its discretion) relatively small amounts of funds into a mutual fund, building…

A fund that buys securities in distressed investments, such as high-yield bonds in or near default, or equities that are in or near bankruptcy. Even…

The weighted average of all the bond credit ratings in a bond fund. The measure gives investors an idea of how risky a fund's bonds are overall. The lower…

A strategy used by mutual fund and portfolio managers near the year or quarter end to improve the appearance of the portfolio/fund performance before…

1) A payment structure arranged with a mutual fund in which the investor receives a set amount of funds from the fund on a periodic basis. This is also…

A type of international fund traded on the American Stock Exchange that follows the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) country indexes. It was…

A mutual fund that invests in securities from several different countries, including the United States. World funds typically have a significant portion…

A class of mutual fund shares that often has a high minimum investment, such as $500,000 per lot, and the added benefit of waived or limited load charges…

A type of mutual fund that allocates capital as a standard index, by replicating the holdings of a specified stock index, such as the Standard & Poor…

A class of mutual fund shares that employees of the fund's management company are allowed to own. Employees may have the option of buying Z-shares or receiving…