Browse Investing

Funds

Fund terms for ETFs, mutual funds, net asset value, fees, share classes, private funds, and pooled investment structures.

Funds are pooled investment vehicles that package securities, cash, derivatives, private assets, or other exposures under a shared mandate.

Use this section when the wrapper changes diversification, fees, liquidity, tax treatment, investor rights, benchmark comparison, or how performance is reported.

What This Branch Covers

AreaUse it for
Alternative, Private, and Hedge FundsHedge fund, private fund, venture fund, commodity pool, liquid alternative, and incentive-fee terms.
ETFs, Index Funds, and Exchange-Traded ProductsETF, index, exchange-traded product, creation-redemption, or specialized listed-fund terms.
Fund Basics and RegulationFund structure, pooled-vehicle, investment-company, registration, exemption, and wrapper terms.
Fund Companies, Managers, and DataFund sponsor, manager, AUM, research provider, platform, and data-source terms.
Fund Fees, Loads, and Share ClassesFund cost, load, expense-ratio, share-class, fee, and distribution-charge terms.
Fund Operations and StructuresFund structure, capital-flow, gate, feeder, switching, turnover, and liquidity-management terms.
Fund Types and Investment MandatesFund mandate, asset-class, allocation, income, style, lifecycle, global, or sector-exposure terms.
Mutual Funds and Closed-End FundsMutual fund, open-end fund, closed-end fund, money-market, offshore, and wrapper-comparison terms.
NAV, Pricing, and PerformanceNAV, pricing, valuation, performance, yield, fund-flow, and reporting terms.
Public, Sovereign, and Special-Purpose FundsPublic, sovereign, stabilization, pension, endowment, and special-purpose fund terms.

What to Check

Check the mandate, holdings, benchmark, wrapper, fees, liquidity terms, distribution policy, tax treatment, valuation method, and investor eligibility before comparing funds.

Common Mistakes

  • Comparing funds only by recent performance.
  • Ignoring expenses, taxes, liquidity, and benchmark fit.
  • Assuming the fund name fully describes the holdings.
  • Treating educational fund definitions as personalized investment advice.

This page is educational and does not recommend a specific fund, security, tax treatment, or account choice.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

ETFs and Index Products

ETF, index-fund, commodity ETF, leveraged ETF, exchange-traded-product, and fund-family terms.

Managers and Data

Asset-management companies, fund managers, research services, and fund-data terms.

Fund Types

Fund mandate terms for equity, bond, income, balanced, lifecycle, global, and specialty investment funds.

NAV and Performance

Net asset value, premium-discount, fund-pricing, yield, return, and performance-measurement terms.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026