The Complete Beginner's Guide to Investing in Mutual Funds

Before I can teach you about mutual fund investing, you need to understand what mutual funds are. In Mutual Funds 101, I'm going to show you the difference between open-ended funds and closed funds, load vs. no load funds, and more. It's a great place to start.

As part of my decision to seriously consider launching a mutual fund company, I met with banks and other financial institutions, who provided a phenomenal introduction to how mutual funds are structured and the way they actually work. By giving you a behind-the-scenes look into the makeup of a fund, you'll have a much better idea what happens once you write a check to start investing.

Once you a ready to begin investing in mutual funds, you actually have to go about buying your mutual fund shares.  There are three popular ways this is done in the United States.  This overview will help you understand each of them, and some of the advantages certain methods have over others.

When you buy your first mutual fund, you may encounter something known as a sales load.  There are front end loads, back end loads, deferred loads and declining loads.  That may sound complicated, but it is really important you understand what these terms mean because buying the wrong type of mutual fund can take thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars directly out of your pocket.

Many professionals believes that low-cost index funds are a better investment choice for those who want to grow their wealth without a lot of hassle. How are index funds different? Should you consider investing in them instead of actively managed mutual funds? Here are some thoughts that you might want to consider.

How do you pick the best mutual funds? I wrote this step-by-step guide to illustrate some of the things to think about and look for when building a mutual fund portfolio. It should be useful as you make your way through what can seem like an endless list of potential fund investments.

There is a hidden mutual fund tax that could cause you to owe massive amounts of money to the IRS even if you lose money investing in a mutual fund. Most new investors don't know how it works, or even what to look for to spot this potential danger. Don't even consider mutual fund investing until you've learned the cause of potential mutual fund tax problems

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Mutual funds aren't just for investing in stocks. A common question that is posed to me is whether new investors should own bonds or invest in a bond fund, which is a special type of mutual fund that owns bonds and other fixed income investments. My answer? It depends ...