Mutual Fund : An investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose

of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets. Mutual funds are operated by money managers, who invest the fund's capital and attempt to produce capital gains and income for the fund's investors. A mutual fund's portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus. Net Asset Value: A mutual fund's price per share or exchange-traded fund's (ETF) per -share value. In both cases, the per -share dollar amount of the fund is calculated by dividing the total value of all the securities in its portfolio, less any liabilities, by the number of fund shares outstanding. Expense Ratio: A measure of what it costs an investment company to operate a mutual fund. An expense ratio is determined through an annual calculation, where a fund's operating expenses are divided by the average dollar value of its assets under management. Operating expenses are taken out of a fund's assets and lower the return to a fund's investors. Load Fund: A mutual fund that comes with a sales charge or commission. The fund investor pays the load, which goes to compensate a sales int ermediary (broker, financial planner, investment advisor, etc.) for his or her time and expertise in selecting an appropriate fund for the investor. The load is either paid up front at the time of purchase (front end load), when the shares are sold (back -end load), or as long as the fund is held by the investor (level -load). No-Load Fund: A mutual fund in which shares are sold without a commission or sales charge. The reason for this is that the shares are distributed directly by the investment company, instead of going through a secondary party. This is the opposite of a load fund, which charges a commission at the time of the fund's purchase, at the time of its sale, or as a "level-load" for as long as the investor holds the fund. Growth Fund: A diversified portfolio of stocks that has capital appreciation as its primary goal, with little or no dividend payouts. Portfolio companies would mainly consist of companies with above-average growth in earnings that reinvest their earnings into expansion, acquisitions, and/or research and development. Value Fund: A stock mutual fund that primarily holds stocks that are deemed to be undervalued in price and that are likely to pay dividends. Value funds are one of three main mutual fund types; the other two are growth and blend (a mix of value and growth stocks) funds.

Income Value: Mutual fund (unit trust) that seeks high, steady, and stable income (instead of growth in value of assets) by investing in securities that pays higher interest or dividend.

Bond Fund: A fund invested primarily in bonds and other debt instruments. The exact type of debt the fund invests in will depend on its focus, but investments may include government, corporate, municipal and convertible bonds, along with other debt securities like mortgage-backed securities.

International Fund : A mutual fund that can invest in companies located anywhere outside of its investors' country of residence. Also referred to as a "foreign fund". Global Fund: A type of mutual fund, closed -end fund or exchange -traded fund that can invest in companies located anywhere in the world, including the investor's own country. These funds provide more global opportunities for diversification and act as a hedge against inflation and currency risks. Index Fund: A type of mutual fund that allocates capital as a standard index, by replicating the holdings of a specified stock index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500), except that the fund weights its holdings towards stocks that offer higher dividend yields. Stocks with higher dividend yields are given a greater portfolio weighting, making them represent more of the fund's portfolio than they otherwise would in the standard index. Sector Fund: A stock mutual, exchange-traded or closed-end fund that invests solely in businesses that operate in a particular industry or sector of the economy. Because the holdings of this type of fund are in the same industry, ther e is an inherent lack of diversification associated with these funds. Balanced Fund: A fund that combines a stock component, a bond component and, sometimes, a money market component, in a single portfolio. Generally, these hybrid funds stick to a relatively fixed mix of stocks and bonds that reflects either a moderate (higher equity component) or conservative (higher fixed -income component) orientation.

Money Market: A segment of the financial market in which financial instruments with high liquidi ty and very short maturities are traded. The money market is used by participants as a means for borrowing and lending in the short term, from several days to just under a year. Money market securities consist of negotiable certificates of deposit (CDs), banker's acceptances, U.S. Treasury bills, commercial paper, municipal notes, federal funds and repurchase agreements (repos). Small Cap: Refers to stocks with a relatively small market capitalization. The definition of small cap can vary among brokerages, but generally it is a company with a market capitalization of between $300 million and $2 billion. Mid Cap: A company with a market capitalization between $2 and $10 billion, which is calculated by multiplying the number of a company's shares outstanding by its stock price. Mid cap is an abbreviation for the term "middle capitalization". Large Cap - Big Cap: A term used by the investment community to refer to companies with a market capitalization value of more than $10 billion. Large cap is an abbreviation of the term "large market capitalization". Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the number of a company's shares outstanding by its stock price per share.