DO NOW: The highs and lows of a fluctuating stock price are hard to predict. As a new stock trader, have you found it difficult to “time the market?” For example, did you ever buy a stock and wished you had waited, or did you ever sell a stock too soon? Why is it so hard to “time” the market? (Answer the Do Now questions on the back of this handout or on a separate sheet of paper)

Introduction Today, you are going on a Web Quest to investigate Mutual Funds. After today you should be able to answer the following questions: What is a mutual fund? How can investors invest in mutual funds? Why are they so popular? Why are there so many mutual funds? What are the different types of funds? And, why are they more mutual funds than there are stocks in the market? AIM: Why should I consider including mutual funds in my investment portfolio?

What is a Mutual Fund? A mutual fund is a collection of stocks, bonds and other securities owned by a group of investors and managed by a professional investment advisory firm. The investment firm collects money from investors, pools it and invests it. The mutual fund manager, working with a team of analysts, decides which stocks and securities to include in the fund, often investing in 100 or more securities. Some mutual funds are index funds, which closely follow a particular index of stocks such as the S&P 500 or the Dow. Mutual funds fit the needs of people with a variety of risk tolerances—from the very conservative to the more speculative. Every day the fund's managers and analysts evaluate the performance of each security and how current economic, social and political events might affect their holdings. Based on these factors, the fund manager decides which securities in the fund to keep or sell. All mutual funds have investment objectives, for example, value funds only invest in stocks the fund’s managers believe are undervalued. A mutual fund may invest in a particular sector (i.e. technology), market index (S&P 500), company size(Small Cap/Large Cap), or specific category (i.e. socially responsible companies.)

Task #1 On the back of this handout or on a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions – You may use the following website to help you answer these questions: /lesson6/index.htm 1. What are the benefits of a mutual fund? 2. What are the different fund categories? 3. What are the costs of investing in a fund?

Task #2 On the back of this handout or on a separate sheet of paper, write your pitch: You have just been hired by a prominent mutual fund company, The Vanguard Group. Your assignment is to write a very brief (a few sentences) marketing pitch to investors for one of the company’s mutual funds. The objective is to “sell” the fund to the investor. You must make a convincing argument as to why an investor should buy a Vanguard mutual fund. You should highlight the funds risk and performance. Websites to help you: funds

Task #3 Answer on the back of this handout or on a separate sheet of paper. 1.Would you consider investing your personal money into a mutual fund? Why or why not? 2. If you were to invest your money in a mutual fund, which one would you choose? Why would you choose to invest in that fund?