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Mutual Fund Families
| Name | Initial Investment Minimum |
Additional Investment Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| CIBC | $500.00 | $25.00 |
| Royal Bank | $1,000.00 | $25.00 |
| Scotiabank | $1,000.00 | $50.00 |
| TD e-Series | $100.00 | $25.00 |
Mutual funds are the easiest way to invest in a broad area of the stock market or other investment vehicles. Most funds are actively managed, which means that the manager makes stock trades regularly to try to get the best performance. Many of them fail to do better than the stock market as a whole. An alternative is index funds; they hold on to the same stocks that come close to the performance of the market. They also have lower expenses, giving you additional gains. Some funds provide a full portfolio that becomes more conservative as you approach a target retirement date.
Many people look at past performance when choosing a mutual fund, but a fund that's had a few good years can be a bad investment. With all funds one of the key things to consider is the management expense ratio - the percentage of your assets that's taken each year (but usually calculated daily) to pay for the fund management. Some funds also have a "load", adding more costs when you invest or withdraw. For actively managed funds it's important to have a fund manager with a good track record. Index funds are easier to judge; all the funds based on an index should have nearly the same performance. Most index funds in North America are for the S&P 500 index (US) or S&P/TSX index (Canada)