Sometime last year, I posted a blog on the best performing mutual funds so I decided to do one again especially since a lot of people are now interested in investing.

But what really is a mutual fund? A mutual fund is a pooled fund and you can read read about what a pooled fund is from a previous blog – click here.

Before we get overwhelmed with the numbers, I wish to reiterate that while important, historical returns are not the only factor that you should consider in selecting a mutual fund. As they say, past performance is never an indication of future performance. A fund manager who has a riskier preference will most likely have a fund with better yields as compared to one who’s a bit more mo

There are dozens of Mutual Funds available in the country and it can be confusing to chose from them. It’s a good thing that the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) lists the performances of their member companies.

Mutual Funds are great investment instruments for people who are looking for better returns. Mutual funds are long term instruments and are marked to market funds so volatility is to be expected when investing in the said funds. Further, Mutual Funds are not guaranteed. However, performance of the Mutual Funds are expected to outperform inflation rates in the long run, or at least in theory.

I’ve compiled the performances of the top 5 Mutual Funds using their 3 year return parameters. When investing in a Mutual Funds, there are many things to consider other than performance. I’d pay close attention to fee structures as one company differs from another. Other concerns should be investment track record, experience of fund manager, shareholder servicing, among others. In my experience, after sales servicing is a big must and not all Mutual Fund providers give the same effort in servicing.

Be careful on just looking at yields. Aggressive fund managers will have better performance during a bullish market but will have also have performed worse during a down turn.

Investing in a Mutual Fund is a good idea for long-term investors as one can benefit from professional fund management & diversification. Minimum investment amounts for Mutual Funds are also a big plus as most funds only require P5,000 minimum placements.

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is the government regulatory body that oversees Mutual Fund Companies.

Returns are Compounded Annual Growth Rates (CAGR), those are annual returns.

Question: I attended your seminar “Steps to Financial Peace” and you mentioned about pooled funds as a good way to invest. I wanted to ask more about pooled funds but was unable to, so I’m writing you and asking you about it. I would also like to know if I can invest small amounts but on a regular basis in those funds.—Val Baguios, International Organization for Migration (IOM) staff

Answer: Val, thank you for attending my seminar and I pray that you learned much from me and the other speakers. It seems the seminar achieved its objective since you are now asking about pooled funds for your investments.

Let me start by defining what a pooled fund is, borrowing the definition from Investopedia.com: “Funds from many individual investors that are aggregated for the purposes of investment, as in the case of a mutual or pension fund. Investors in pooled fund investments benefit from economies of scale, which allow for lower trading costs per dollar (peso) of investment, diversification and professional money management.”

It looks like the definition made it more complex than it really is. Pooled funds are investments where people put their money, with an investment manager handling the investments. To explain further, let me use this analogy: Assuming you want to invest but do not know the first thing in investing in stocks or bonds. You can join a “pool” of investors who allow an investment manager …

Read full article at http://business.inquirer.net/13315/all-about-pooled-funds