Fund is the abbreviation of securities investment fund. It is an investment income certificate that many investors' funds are handed over to fund management companies for investment management.
Basic classification of funds
1. Securities investment funds can be divided into open-end funds and closed-end funds according to whether the fund share can be increased or redeemed.
The total number of fund units of open-end funds is not fixed, which can be issued according to the development needs and redeemed by investors. The redemption price is equal to the current net asset value minus the handling fee. Most investment funds are open.
The total amount of closed-end funds is limited, and once the issuance plan is completed, no additional issuance will be made. Investors are not allowed to redeem, but the fund shares can be publicly transferred on the stock exchange or OTC market, and the transfer price is determined by market supply and demand.
Two, according to the different organizational forms, securities investment funds can be divided into corporate investment funds and contractual investment funds.
Corporate fund is a joint-stock investment company formed by investors with the same investment objectives who invest in specific objects (such as securities and currencies) for profit according to the provisions of the Company Law. This fund is an economic entity with legal personality, which raises funds by issuing stocks. Fund holders are both fund investors and company shareholders. After a corporate fund is established, it usually entrusts a specific fund manager or investment consultant to invest in the fund assets.
A contractual fund is a fund established on the basis of a certain trust deed. Generally, it is established by a fund management company (client), a fund custodian (trustee) and an investor (beneficiary) through a trust investment contract. There is such a relationship among the three parties of contractual funds: the trustor uses the trust property to invest according to the contract, the trustee is responsible for keeping the trust property according to the contract, and the investor enjoys the investment income according to the contract. Contract funds generally raise funds by issuing fund beneficiary certificates or fund units, which is a kind of securities, indicating investors' ownership of fund assets and participating in the distribution of investment rights and interests by virtue of their ownership.
Three, according to the different risks and returns of securities investment, it can be divided into growth investment funds, income growth investment funds (balanced investment funds) and income investment funds.
Growth investment fund is a fund with long-term capital appreciation as its investment target, and its investment targets are mainly small companies with great appreciation potential in the market and stocks in some emerging industries. Generally speaking, such funds rarely pay dividends, and often reinvest the dividends, bonuses and profits from investment to realize capital appreciation.
Income-oriented investment funds aim to pursue the current income of the fund, and the investment targets are mainly those securities with relatively stable income, such as blue chips, bonds and negotiable certificates of deposit. Income-based funds usually distribute the interest and dividends they earn to investors.
Balanced fund is a fund that pursues both long-term capital appreciation and current income. These funds mainly invest in bonds, preferred stocks and some common stocks. The portfolio proportion of these securities is relatively stable. Generally, 25%-50% of the total assets are used for preferred stocks and bonds, and the rest are used for common stock investment. Its risk and return are between growth funds and income fund.
Four, according to the different investment objects, investment funds can be divided into stock funds, bond funds, money market funds, futures funds, option funds and warrants funds.
Equity funds are the most important type of funds, which invest in stocks, including preferred stocks and common stocks. The main function of stock funds is to pool small amounts of money from mass investors and invest in different stock portfolios. Stock funds can be divided into preferred stock funds and common stock funds according to different types of stocks. Preferred stock fund is a kind of stock fund with stable income and less risk. Its investment targets are mainly preferred shares issued by companies, and its income mainly comes from dividend income. Common stock funds aim at pursuing capital gains and long-term capital appreciation, and their risks are higher than those of preferred stock funds.
Bond fund is a kind of securities investment fund with bonds as the investment object, and its scale is slightly smaller than that of stock fund. Since bonds are marketable securities with stable returns and less risks, bond funds are suitable for investors who want to obtain stable returns. Bond funds are basically income-oriented investment funds, which generally pay dividends regularly, with the characteristics of low risk and stable income.
Futures fund is an investment fund with futures as its main investment object. Futures are contracts, and you can buy contracts with a certain margin (generally 5%- 10%). Futures can be used for hedging, or it can be small and broad. If the forecast is accurate, you can get a high return on investment in a short period of time. If the forecast is not accurate, it will lose a lot, which is characterized by high risk and high income. Therefore, futures funds are also high-risk funds.
Option fund is an investment fund with options as the main investment object. Option is also a contract, which refers to the right to buy or sell a certain number of certain investment targets at an agreed price within a certain period of time. If the market price changes are beneficial to his performance, he will exercise this right to buy and sell, that is, exercise options; On the contrary, he can also give up the option and let the contract expire. As the price of having this right, the option buyer needs to pay the option fee (the price of the option) to the option seller. Option funds are less risky and suitable for investors with stable returns. Its investment purpose is to obtain the maximum current income.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) What is an index fund? What are the characteristics of index funds?
Index fund refers to a fund that buys all or part of the securities in the securities market included in the index according to the index standard, and its purpose is to achieve the same income level as the index.
For example, the goal of the Shanghai Composite Index Fund is to obtain the same income as the Shanghai Composite Index. The Shanghai Composite Index Fund buys the stocks in the index according to the composition and weight of the Shanghai Composite Index, and accordingly, the performance of the Shanghai Composite Index Fund will fluctuate like the Shanghai Composite Index.
The most prominent feature of index funds is low cost, and delaying tax payment will have a great impact on the fund's income. Moreover, this advantage will be more prominent for a long time. In addition, the simplified portfolio will make it unnecessary for fund managers to contact brokers frequently, or to choose stocks or determine market opportunities.
Specifically, the characteristics of index funds are mainly manifested in the following aspects:
1, low cost. This is the most prominent advantage of index funds. Expenses mainly include management expenses, transaction expenses and sales expenses. Management expenses refer to the expenses incurred by fund managers in investment management; Transaction cost refers to the transaction expenses such as brokerage commission when buying and selling securities. Because index funds adopt holding strategy and do not need to exchange shares frequently, these expenses are far lower than those of actively managed funds, and the difference sometimes reaches 1%-3%. Although this is a small number in absolute value, the long-term cumulative result will have a great impact on the fund's income because of the compound interest effect.
2. Disperse and prevent risks. On the one hand, because index funds are widely diversified, the fluctuation of any stock will not affect the overall performance of index funds, thus diversifying risks. On the other hand, because the indexes pegged by index funds generally have a long tracking history, the risks of index funds can be predicted to some extent.
3. Deferred tax payment. Because index funds adopt the strategy of buying and holding, the turnover rate of the stocks they hold is very low. Only when a stock is removed from the index, or when investors demand to redeem their investments, index funds will sell their stocks and realize part of the capital gains. In this way, the annual capital gains tax (in developed countries such as the United States, capital gains are within the scope of income tax) is very small. Coupled with the compound interest effect, delaying tax payment will bring many benefits to investors.
4. Less monitoring. Since operating index funds does not need to take the initiative to make investment decisions, fund managers basically do not need to monitor the performance of funds. The main task of index fund managers is to monitor the changes of corresponding indexes, so as to ensure that the composition of index funds is suitable for them.
6. What is an umbrella fund? What are the characteristics of umbrella fund?
Umbrella fund refers to the establishment of several sub-funds under a parent fund, and each sub-fund makes investment decisions independently. It is also commonly called umbrella fund.
The main feature of umbrella fund is that it can provide investors with a variety of investment options within the fund. Because the market is constantly changing, the needs of investors are constantly changing. If investors choose between different funds again, they need to pay a lot of sales expenses. Investors of umbrella funds can switch fund types at any time according to their own needs, without paying the switching fee, which can provide investors with more choices at low cost.
In essence, the umbrella fund is just an organizational form of the fund.
7. What is the fund in the fund?
Funds in funds are funds that invest in other securities investment funds, and their investment portfolio consists of various funds. The investment of fund investors is two-level expert management and two-level risk dispersion, but correspondingly, fund investors have to charge two-level management fees and sales fees, and the investment cost of investors is also very high.
8. What is a capital preservation fund?
Capital preservation fund refers to a fund that provides a certain proportion (generally 80- 100%) of the principal invested by investors within a certain investment period. That is to say, fund investors can get back at least a certain proportion of the principal at the maturity date of the investment period according to the investment results of the fund manager, but there are still some risks in the part that is not guaranteed (referring to the fund with the guaranteed interval less than 100%) and the income. Under normal circumstances, investors can redeem before the maturity date, but early redemption will not be guaranteed. Once the capital preservation fund is issued, it will not be issued before the maturity date, and investors rarely redeem it, but they can redeem it. Therefore, the typical capital preservation fund is a semi-closed and semi-open fund.
Capital preservation funds generally invest most of their funds (such as 80%) in fixed interest rate instruments (such as money markets and bonds), which mainly play the role of capital preservation; A small amount of other funds (such as 20%) are invested in high-risk and high-yield derivatives such as stocks, futures and options in order to obtain higher yields. Even if all the risky assets lose money, the funds invested in bonds can still meet the investor's capital preservation requirements.
At present, due to the insufficient development of financial derivatives market, China has not yet launched a real capital preservation fund.
The difference between funds and stocks
Securities investment fund is a kind of investment income certificate. Stock is a stock issued by a joint stock limited company to investors when raising capital.
1, reflecting different relationships. Stocks reflect ownership relations, while securities investment funds reflect trust relations.
2. Different operational inputs. Stock is a financing tool, and the funds raised are mainly invested in industry, which is a direct investment method. Securities investment fund is a kind of trust tool, and its raised funds are mainly invested in securities, which is an indirect investment method.
3. Risks and benefits are different. The return of stocks is uncertain, and its return depends on the operating efficiency of the issuing company, so investing in stocks is risky. Securities investment funds adopt portfolio investment, which can spread risks to a certain extent, with smaller risks and more stable returns than stocks.
4. Different ways of investment recovery. Stocks have no expiration date, so stock investors can't ask for withdrawal, and investors can only sell them in the secondary market if they want to realize their cash. Investors of open-end funds can redeem their fund shares according to their net assets, while investors of closed-end funds are not allowed to redeem their fund shares during the fund's existence. If they want to cash in, they can only sell it on the exchange or OTC market, but investors can get a discount on the investment principal when the duration expires.