A no-load mutual fund is a fund whose shares are sold without commissions or sales charges.  Since there are no costs of entry into this type of mutual fund, the entire investment is immediately put to work.  But how do no-load funds stack up against funds that charge fees?

When it comes to mutual funds, there are many choices in the marketplace.  When you're evaluating mutual funds, you need to carefully consider the loads each mutual fund charges.  There are no-load mutual funds, front and back-loads, and even expiring back-loads.  We're going to discuss all of these fund types, and explain why investors need to understand how these loads can eat into their investment's overall performance.

A closed-end fund, also known as a closed-end company, is one of three basic types of investment companies. A closed-end fund works like an individual stock because the fund's shares are traded on an open exchange.  Unlike open-end mutual funds, closed-end mutual funds raise money only once during an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

If you're thinking about buying mutual funds, then some of the terminology you'll encounter can be confusing; especially for the novice investor.   This is the first article in a four-part series dedicated to buying mutual funds.  In this first installment, we're going to discuss the popularity of mutual funds, their risks, and some of the terminology you'll encounter.

Now that we've covered some of the basics of mutual funds, we're going to turn our attention to the topic of researching a mutual fund.   The overall objective here is to find the best mutual fund possible.  But what exactly does that mean?  We need to better understand how buying shares in a mutual fund can help investors to achieve their financial objectives.

In part three of this series on buying mutual funds, the topic will be evaluating mutual funds.  There is no doubt that when it comes to publishing information on mutual funds, Morningstar is an industry leader.  In this publication, we're going to help you to better understand the information you're likely to encounter when reviewing performance reports.  This includes Morningstar as well as other publishers of mutual fund ratings data.

In this final publication on buying mutual funds, we're going to talk about two specific topics:  management fees, and fund loads.  We're also going to discuss the prospectus information you'll find concerning the fund's manager.

In this article, we're going to cover the topic of mutual fund ratings.  This discussion will include the premier fund rating system as published by Morningstar.  We're also going to discuss some of the problems an investor needs to be aware of when using a rating system, as well as the alternatives to such systems.

Conducting mutual fund research is like conducting stock research, but because mutual funds are pre-packaged portfolios of stocks, the process is a little simpler.  In addition, the universe of mutual funds is much smaller than that of common stocks, so you are starting with a much smaller number of options to evaluate.

Understanding the true performance of a mutual fund is a complicated subject.  In this publication, we're going to discuss some of the tools that are available to help you analyze information, and get a better feel for a mutual fund's performance.  We'll also talk about some of the other factors that can reduce an investor's return, and eat away at a fund's overall performance.

In this publication, we are going to discuss AIM Mutual Funds.  As we've done in the other publications in this series, we're going to first provide some information on the overall family of funds from AIM Investments.  Next, we are going to discuss AIM's mutual fund fee structure.  Finally, we'll finish up with a listing of the top three performing mutual funds from AIM.

The next family of funds that we are going to discuss, as part of our ongoing series, is American Mutual Funds.  In this publication, we're going to first provide some background information on American Funds.  Next, we'll briefly discuss American's fee structure and investment returns.  Then we'll finish up with a list of the top-rated American mutual funds in 2011.

In this publication, we're going to take a closer look at Federated Mutual Funds, also known as Federated Funds.  The Federated family of mutual funds is known for producing top performing mutual funds, which are aimed at the institutional as well as the individual investor.  Let's see if that holds true for this review.

Fidelity Mutual Funds is the next family of mutual funds we're going to discuss in this publication.  We'll start that discussion with a brief history of Fidelity.  Next, we'll talk about Fidelity's fee structure.  Finally, we'll identify some of the top performing mutual funds available from Fidelity.

Franklin Mutual funds bears the name and image of one of America's greatest citizens:  Benjamin Franklin.  In this publication, we're going to provide a review of this company to see if it lives up to the legacy he's left behind.  We're going to take some liberties with the name of this mutual fund, but we do realize the company's formal name is Franklin Templeton Investments.

In this publication, we'll be reviewing Hartford Mutual Funds.  Hartford is a very well known company, especially if you're looking for a life insurance policy.  The insurance and investment services industry is skilled at managing money.  That means there is a good fit for these same companies to offer investors the opportunity to invest in mutual funds.

As we continue our series on mutual fund families, we are going to discuss Janus Mutual Funds. As we've done before, we'll first comment on the overall family of funds offered.  Next, we will talk about the fee structure of Janus, including loads as well as fund expenses.  Finally, we'll finish up with a listing of the top rated Janus Mutual Funds.

We've already talked about the mutual funds that are available from Van Kampen and their relationship to Morgan Stanley.  In this publication, the focus is going to be on Morgan Stanley mutual funds.  This includes a brief background of Morgan Stanley's mutual funds, followed by a review of fees and loads.  Finally, we'll talk about the performance of the funds offered to investors.

According to Forbes magazine, Oakmark Mutual Funds had some of the best performing mutual funds back in 2005.  Oakmark's stated philosophy is to invest in value. That's an investment attitude we follow too.  In terms of size, Oakmark is perhaps the smallest family of mutual funds reviewed to date, with an offering of only seven funds.

In this publication, we're going to be discussing Oppenheimer Funds mutual funds.  The correct spelling of the fund is actually one word:  OppenheimerFunds.  As part of this discussion, we'll start with a brief history of the company.  Next, we'll talk about fee structures and investment returns.  Finally, we'll provide a short list of the top performing mutual funds at Oppenheimer.

Unlike some of the other mutual funds we've reviewed, PIMCO Mutual Funds is focused on serving the institutional money manager.  You'll notice this difference later on, when we discuss minimum investments.  That does not mean individuals should ignore PIMCO funds; they should be very interested.  The returns on some of their funds are quite high.

We're going to continue with our reviews of mutual fund families with Pioneer Mutual Funds.  In this publication, we're first going to provide a brief background of the company, including the services Pioneer offers to investors.  Next, we'll talk about Pioneer's fees and overall returns.  Finally, we'll provide information on some of their top performing mutual funds.

Putnam Investments has a heritage that dates back to the 1830's.  That's quite a history, even relative to other mutual fund giants we've reviewed.  Putnam mutual funds seem to reflect the balance you would expect with such a long history.  They produce an excellent mix of both stock and bond funds.

In this publication, we're going to be providing a review of Rydex Mutual Funds.  At one time, Rydex was geared more towards the elite investor, since their minimum investment for any fund was $25,000 (it is now $100).  It's also a relatively small player in the mutual fund space, with only a little over $25 billion in assets under management.

In this publication, we'll be discussing Van Kampen mutual funds.  Our review will include a brief background of the company, and the services Van Kampen provides its clients.   Next we'll talk about fee structures and investment returns.  Finally, we'll review some of the top performing funds you'll find at Van Kampen.

Vanguard Mutual Funds was the first fund reviewed in our series of articles covering families of mutual funds.  We'll start this discussion by talking briefly about the history of Vanguard.  Next, we'll provide an overview of their fee structures and investment returns.  Finally, we'll review a list of the top rated mutual funds from Vanguard.

Commodity mutual funds are an interesting, and potentially rewarding, way to diversify your investment portfolio beyond stocks and bonds.  That's because commodities are often used as a hedge against inflation.  Generally, the prices of commodities tend to rise in step with inflation.  This movement tends to run counter to stock prices, which is an attribute that makes commodity mutual funds so attractive to many investors.

Gold mutual funds are just one of several ways that individuals can invest in gold.  This topic was thoroughly discussed in our article, appropriately named, Investing in Gold.  In that publication we outlined eight different ways to buy gold, and mutual funds is an excellent choice if you're considering entering the market.

One of the ways the average investor can get started in the real estate market is through real estate mutual funds.   Many of these specialized mutual funds allow investors to gain entry into this market with as little as $1,000.  Real estate funds also offer the investor the advantages of a mutual fund.  This includes a portfolio with lower overall risk, as well as professional management of the fund.

An index fund is, by its very nature, a well diversified portfolio of stocks.  Buying an index fund provides investors with an opportunity to diversify away the risk associated with individual stocks; thereby lowering the overall risk of their investment portfolio.

An exchange traded fund, or EFT, might best be described as a hybrid between a share of common stock and a mutual fund.  In fact, because of the way EFTs are structured, they present some interesting options to both the novice and seasoned investor.

If you're interested in investing in the oil and natural gas industry, then two exchange-traded funds you should consider investigating are DIG and DUG.  Based on the historical volatility in the prices of crude oil and natural gas, investing in these two industries is a speculative play.  But that's the intriguing part of DIG and DUG.

Today, money market mutual funds account for nearly 1,000 of the more than 8,000 mutual funds available to investors.  Even more impressive is the fact that money market fund's assets account for more than one-quarter of all mutual fund assets. That's around $2 trillion invested in money market funds alone.

The stock market is simply an amazing organization when it comes to creativity.  Take hedge funds for example, they're not exactly mutual funds, and they're not exchange traded funds either.  So what is a hedge fund?