A mutual fund is a group of stocks, bonds and other investments owned by a large number of investors and managed by a professional investment company. The money you contribute to a mutual fund buys you shares, or units, of that fund.

A professional money manager takes the entire pool of money from all of the fund's investors and invests it in a carefully selected range of investments based on specific goals and procedures outlined in the fund’s simplified prospectus. There are many benefits to investing in mutual funds:

• Professional money management – experts in the financial markets invest the pool of money that investors contribute.
• Diversification – Because investors contribute to a large pool of money, managers can easily diversify so fund returns are not heavily dependant on the ups and downs of a few select investments
• Liquidity – Mutual funds are very convenient since they can be quickly bought and redeemed.
• Choice – Depending on your financial goals and tolerance for risk there are a wide range of mutual funds available to you.
• Convenience – the mutual fund company does all the record keeping, providing regular reports and the appropriate tax forms for your investments.