Money Market Fund

A money market fund is a mutual fund that invests solely in money market instruments. Money market instruments are forms of debt that mature in less than one year and are very liquid. Treasury bills make up the bulk of the money market instruments. Securities in the money market are relatively risk-free. Money market funds are generally the safest and most secure of mutual fund investments. The goal of a money-market fund is to preserve principal while yielding a modest return. Money-market mutual fund is akin to a high-yield bank account but is not entirely risk free. When investing in a money-market fund, attention should be paid to the interest rate that is being offered.

Money market funds are of two types:

1. Institutional Money Market Mutual Funds: These funds are held by governments, institutional investors and businesses etc. Huge sum of money is parked in institutional money funds.

2. Retail Money Market Mutual Funds: Retail money market funds are used for parking money temporarily. The investment portfolio of money market funds comprises of treasury bills, short term debts, tax free bonds etc.

Money market mutual funds are one of the safest instruments of investment for the retail low income investor. The assets in a money market fund are invested in safe and stable instruments of investment issued by governments, banks and corporations etc.

Generally, money market instruments require huge amount of investments and it is beyond the capacity of an ordinary retail investor to invest such large sums. Money market funds allow retail investors the opportunity of investing in money market instrument and benefit from the price advantage. Money market mutual funds are usually rated by the rating agencies. So, check for the fund ratings before investing.

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International Mutual Fund

International mutual funds are those funds that invest in non-domestic securities markets throughout the world. Investing in international markets provides greater portfolio diversification and let you capitalize on some of the world's best opportunities. If investments are chosen carefully, international mutual fund may be profitable when some markets are rising and others are declining. However, fund managers need to keep close watch on foreign currencies and world markets as profitable investments in a rising market can lose money if the foreign currency rises against the dollar. In recent years international mutual funds have gained popularity. This can be attributed to removal of trade barriers and expansion of economies, which has sparked off growth in various regions of the world.

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Fund of Funds

A fund of funds (FoF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in shares, bonds or other securities. This type of investment is also known as multi-manager investment. There are different types of 'fund of funds', each investing in a different type of collective investment scheme, for  example 'mutual fund' FoF, hedge fund FoF, private equity FoF or investment trust FoF. Investing in a collective investment scheme may increase diversity compared to a small investor holding a smaller range of securities directly. A FoF manager will try to select the best performing funds to invest in based upon the managers past performance and other factors. If the FoF manager is skillful, this additional level of selection can provide greater stability and take on some of the risk relating to the decisions of a single manager. As in all other areas of investing, there are no guarantees for regular returns. As a fund of funds invests in the scheme of other funds, it provides a greater degree of diversification. Instead of investing in different stocks of mutual funds and keeping records of all of them, it is much easier to invest and track only one fund which in turn invests in other mutual funds.

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