9.21 investments - chapter 4 - 公共基金及其他投資公司

Individual investors do not trade securities directly for their own accounts. Instead, they direct their funds to investment companies that purchase securities on their behalf. 個人投資者的一個人的資金太少，很多投資組合無法購買，也無法利用賣空等賺錢，還得自己管理股票組合，費時費力，是以投資公司應運而生。最重要的中是open-end investment companies，又叫公共基金。

1. 定義：Investment companies  are financial intermediaries that collect funds from individual  investors and invest those funds in a potentially wide range of securities or other assets.  作用：

• Record keeping and administration
• Diversification and divisibility
• Professional management
• Lower transaction costs

重要概念 NAV：The   value of each share  is called the  net asset value,  or NAV.   Net asset value = Market value of assets minus liabilities/Shares outstanding

2. TYPES OF INVESTMENT COMPANIES A)   Unit Investment Trusts are pools of money invested in a portfolio that is fixed for the life of the fund. 就是那種固定了投資組合的，例如就買某些債券或者某些股票的組合，定了之後以後都無法修改了，也不用人去管理。投資人從trustee買，過一段時間後，如果不想要了，就按照那個時刻的 NAV價格賣給trustee。因為賣回給trustee是以叫redeemable trust certificates。 trustee是信托人的意思，這個角色一般由bank or trust company(銀行或者信托公司)來擔任。 B)   Managed Investment Companies    B1) open-end:  Ready to redeem or issue shares at their net asset value( NAV).   B2) close-end:  Do not redeem or issue shares. 其别就是investment companies是否會從投資者那贖回shares。 open-end 也叫mutual funds，是最主要的投資公司形式。也是這一章的重點。 C)   Commingled Funds：混合基金，意如其名,混合起來後可以降低平均的交易費，管理費等。  A fund consisting of assets from several accounts that are blended together.  D) Real Estate Investment Trusts ( REITs)   REITs invest in real estate or loans secured by real estate.  投資不動産的 E)  Hedge Funds 對沖基金 An aggressively managed portfolio of investments that uses advanced investment strategies such as leveraged, long, short and derivative positions in both domestic and international markets with the goal of generating high returns (either in an absolute sense or over a specified market benchmark). 利用杠杆，賣空，金融衍生品等手段來獲得高額的利潤的基金。 一般是private partnerships ，是以受到SEC的監管也少很多。一般隻對非常有錢的投資者或者金融機構開放。

3. Mutual Funds Investment Policies: 每個公共基金都有自己的投資政策。按照投資對象的不同，可以将Mutual Funds分為以下9類

• Money Market Funds：投資短期的money market，包括commercial paper, repurchase agreements, or certificates of deposit.
• Equity Funds：投資stock
• Sector Funds：投資某一個領域，例如房地産，utility，有色金屬等
• Bond Funds：投資債券的
• International Funds：投資國際股票市場的
• Balanced Funds：混合了各種securities，比較完整平衡的投資組合，一般不是stable的，組合不變化。
• Asset Allocation and Flexible Funds：和balanced funds一樣也是stocks和bonds混合投資，但是權重會随時間修改，以求獲得較大利益。
• Index Funds：按照某個index進行投資的，例如買S&P 500指數

How Funds Are Sold

Most mutual funds have an underwriter that has exclusive rights to distribute shares to investors.

4.   Costs  of investing in mutual funds Fee classes

• operating expenses: 手續費including administrative expenses and advisory fees paid to the investment manager。mutual funds請投資公司來管理funds的管理費
• Front-End Load：買入時的費用，付給買股票給投資者的brokers
• Back-End Load：redemption fee，賣出時的費用
• 12b-1 Charges：和Front-End類似，付給brokers的。不同的funds可能同時收取或者隻收取其中一個。The Securities and Exchange Commission allows the managers of socalled 12b-1 funds to use fund assets to pay for distribution costs such as advertising, promotional literature including annual reports and prospectuses, and, most important, commissions paid to brokers who sell the fund to investors.

Relationship  between Fees and Mutual Fund Returns Rate of return = (NAV1 - NAV0 + Income and capital gain distributions)/NAV0

Late Trading  and   Market Timing  Late Trading:  指的是在閉市之後第二天開市之前進行的交易。比如一個利好消息在4:00閉市之後釋出的，利用Late Trading可以按照今天的NAV買入，明天一開市，價格就走高了，也就從中獲利了。不過現在都限制Late Trading，因為這其實是損害了其他投資人的利益。 Market Timing：是指全球不同時區的交易所閉市時間不同，利用這個時差來做獲利。和Late Trading一樣。

5.   Taxation 稅收是直接pass through到investor身上的。Funds不許要交稅。

6.   Exchange-Traded Funds Exchange-traded funds    (ETFs), first introduced in 1993, are offshoots of mutual funds that allow investors to trade index portfolios just as they do shares of stock. 使得可以像股票那樣交易funds，除去了時間限制。傳統的funds隻有在當天的NAV結算出來後才能買入和賣出shares。而ETFs就是可以随時買進賣出了。