A mutual fund is both an investment and an actual company. This may seem strange, but it is actually no different than how a share of AAPL is a representation of Apple, Inc. When an investor buys Apple stock, he is buying part ownership of the company and its assets. Similarly, a mutual fund investor is buying part ownership of the mutual fund company and its assets. The difference is Apple is in the business of making smartphones and tablets, while a mutual fund company is in the business of making investments.
Mutual funds pool money from the investing public and use that money to buy other securities, usually stocks and bonds. The value of the mutual fund company depends on the performance of the securities it decides to buy. So when you buy a share of a mutual fund, you are actually buying the performance of its portfolio.
The average mutual fund holds hundreds of different securities, which means mutual fund shareholders gain important diversification at a very low price. Consider an investor who just buys Google stock before the company has a bad quarter. They stand to lose a great deal of value because all of their dollars are tied to one company. On the other hand, a different investor may buy shares of a mutual fund that happens to own some Google stock. When Google has a bad quarter, they only lose a fraction as much because Google is just a small part of the fund's portfolio.
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