Sunday, February 3, 2008

How Mutual Funds Work

What They Are

A mutual fund is a company that pools money from many investors and invests the money in stocks, bonds, short-term money-market instruments, other securities or assets, or some combination of these investments. The combined holdings the mutual fund owns are known as its portfolio. Each share represents an investor's proportionate ownership of the fund's holdings and the income those holdings generate.

Some of the traditional, distinguishing characteristics of mutual funds include the following:

* Investors purchase mutual fund shares from the fund itself (or through a broker for the fund) instead of from other investors on a secondary market, such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq Stock Market.
* The price that investors pay for mutual fund shares is the fund's per share net asset value (NAV) plus any shareholder fees that the fund imposes at the time of purchase (such as sales loads).
* Mutual fund shares are "redeemable," meaning investors can sell their shares back to the fund (or to a broker acting for the fund).
* Mutual funds generally create and sell new shares to accommodate new investors. In other words, they sell their shares on a continuous basis, although some funds stop selling when, for example, they become too large.
* The investment portfolios of mutual funds typically are managed by separate entities known as "investment advisers" that are registered with the SEC.

It’s a Whole New Era of Investing

Fidelity New Millennium Fund Can Help
Guide the Way

Today's markets are full of exciting investment opportunities, giving you the ability to invest in ways you wouldn't have imagined possible just a few years ago: Large Caps, Small Caps, Growth Stocks, Value Stocks, Foreign Emerging Markets, Foreign Developed Markets… the list goes on and on. But let's face it, all of this choice makes it that much more difficult to weed out the noise and find high quality investments with the potential to grow your capital over the long term. That's why Fidelity is pleased to announce the reopening of the Fidelity New Millennium Fund effective May 1, 2007.

About Fidelity New Millennium Fund

New Millennium utilizes a true "go-anywhere" approach, seeking capital appreciation opportunities in companies of all sizes all over the world. Portfolio Manager John Roth spends his days analyzing the investment universe, searching for compelling investment themes and early signs of long-term changes in the marketplace. Mr. Roth looks for catalysts such as social attitudes, demographics, economic plans, product innovation, technological advances and other factors. He then focuses his search on the companies with the potential to benefit from the opportunities created by these changes in the marketplace.

This unique approach enables Mr. Roth to research and possibly invest in an expansive array of opportunities: both domestic and foreign stocks, "growth" or "value" stocks, and companies of all sizes and market capitalization.