Mutual Fund Types and how do you choose

Mutual Funds are of many kinds and it’s easy to get lost even for an experienced investor amongst the wide array of funds available to you in the market.

To enable our investors to pick the best mutual fund to achieve their financial freedom, let’s understand in details, the ways in which mutual funds are classified.

Mutual funds can be classified on the basis of investment objective or on the basis of maturity period.

Closed vs. Open-Ended Funds

Open ended Funds

Subscription: Open ended Funds offer units for sale without specifying any duration for redemption.
Selling price: Redemption value is on the basis of the ongoing NAV
Maturity: Doesn’t have a set number of shares or maturity period
How is it traded: Not traded on the open market (like stocks), NAV of such schemes is generally less fluctuating
Liquidity: Can be redeemed anytime
Closed-ended funds

Subscription: Subscription opens at the time of New Fund Offer (NFO) and for a defined period only.
Selling Price: Price varies depending on supply and demand
Maturity: Set number of shares and a fixed maturity period.
How is it traded: Listed on a recognised stock exchange. They can be traded at any time of the day when the market is open
Liquidity: Fixed lock-in time period, however can be bought and sold on a recognized stock exchange where they are listed.
Mutual fund can be categorized as per asset classes. Broadly, they can be classified under the following seven broad categories:

Equity Mutual Fund
Debt Mutual Fund
Gold Mutual Fund
Multi Asset Fund
Hybrid Mutual Fund
Solution Oriented Schemes and
Other Mutual Fund
Knowing which fund is right for you is essential to making confident investment decisions to grow your wealth in a sustained manner.