Glossary of Mutual Fund Terms
A
Absolute return
It measures performance of a fund over any two points in time, of any length. But this is a flawed way of measuring returns, as it doesn't factor in the effect of time.
Advisor
A person or organization employed by an individual or mutual fund to manage assets or provide investment advice. Also called a financial advisor or investment advisor or investment counsel. Sometimes spelled "adviser".
Advisory Fee
A charge paid to a mutual fund's managers for their services; usually includes fund administration costs and investor relations. Typically, a certain percentage of assets under management.
Alpha
A measure of risk-adjusted performance. A higher alpha indicates a security has performed better than expected with its given beta (or volatility).
Asset Class
Category of different investment types, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, cash, etc.
Alerts
An intimation facility by which a mutual fund informs you (by phone, post or e-mail) when the sell target specified by you on a scheme is reached.
Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI)
The trade association of mutual funds in India. Conceived on the lines of an industry association, AMFI represents the mutual fund industry at various policy forums and does promotional and training work. Its website is www.amfiindia.com.
Annual report
A book type document released by a fund house once in a year that details its state of affairs.
Annualized return
Also known as compounded annual growth rate. The method calculates the returns a fund would have generated over a year. Since it breaks down performance into a unit of one year and incorporates the effect of compounding annualized return, it is a better indicator of a fund than a straight arithmetic average.
Asset allocation
How a fund's corpus is distributed in percentage terms across the various asset classes it chooses to invest in.
Asset Management Company (AMC)
The legal entity set up by a mutual fund to handle its operations.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
The total money managed by the Mutual Fund.
Average maturity period
The average of the stated maturity dates of the securities in a debt fund's portfolio. The longer the maturity period of debt fund, the more the sensitive it will be to interest changes, which will be reflected in the form of greater fluctuations.
B
Basis Point
One-hundredth of a percentage point (0.01 percentage points).
Benchmark
A standard used for comparison.
Beta
The indicated level of volatility associated with the fund as compared to its benchmark, for e.g. comparing a fund with Nifty. A beta of 1 means that fund’s performance closely matches the benchmark. A beta that is greater than one is more volatile than the benchmark index. A beta that is less than one is less volatile than the benchmark index.
C
Capital Appreciation
An increase in the market price of an asset
Capital Gain
The amount by which an asset's selling price exceeds its initial purchase price. A realized capital gain is an investment that has been sold at a profit. An unrealized capital gain is an investment that hasn't been sold yet but would result in a profit if sold. Capital gain is often used to mean realized capital gain. Opposite of capital loss.
Capital Gains Tax
A tax assessed on profits realized from the sale of a capital asset, such as stock.
Capital Loss
The decrease in the value of an investment or asset. Opposite of capital gain.
Closing NAV
The Rupee value of a single mutual fund share, based on the value of the underlying assets of the fund minus its liabilities, divided by the number of shares outstanding.
Common Stock
Securities representing equity ownership in a corporation, providing voting rights, and entitling the holder to a share of the company's success through dividends and/or capital appreciation. In the event of liquidation, common stock holders have rights to a company's assets only after bondholders, other debt holders, and preferred stock holders have been satisfied.
Contingent Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC)
A back-end load charged only in certain circumstances.
Corporate Bond
A bond issued by a corporation.
Coupon
The interest rate on a fixed income security, determined upon issuance, and expressed as a percentage of pars. Also referred to as the term for each interest payment made to the bondholder.
Credit Risk
Risk that the issuer of a fixed income instrument will not meet its payment obligations.
Cheque book facility
A payment option, typically offered with liquid funds, intended to reduce redemption processing time. This facility entails giving unit holders redemption cheques at the time of investment itself. Each time a unit holder wants to sell units rather than make a request to the fund house and receive the cheque after up to 3 days, he needs to do is deposit cheques worth the amount.
Close Ended Scheme
A close-ended fund or scheme has a fixed maturity period. The fund is open for subscription only during a specified period. Investors can invest in the scheme at the time of the initial public issue and thereafter they can buy or sell the units of the scheme on the stock exchanges where the units are listed. If they desire to exit the scheme, they have to sell back the units to the mutual fund through periodic repurchase at NAV related prices.
Commission
A percentage cut paid by a fund house to an intermediary for bringing in business.
Corpus
The amount of money available with a scheme for investing. If already invested the corpus is the current value of the scheme’s portfolio.
Cost averaging
A strategy that involves buying more of a security when its price falls, with the objective of reducing the average cost price. Within mutual funds, it's a strategy used by systematic investment plans.
D
Diversification
A portfolio strategy designed to reduce exposure to risk by combining a variety of investments. The goal of diversification is to reduce the risk in a portfolio. Volatility is limited by the fact that not all asset classes or industries or individual companies move up and down in value at the same time or at the same rate. Diversification reduces both the upside and downside potential and allows for more consistent performance under a wide range of economic conditions.
Dividend Yield
Annualized dividend rate divided by last closing price.
Debt funds
The class of schemes that invest only in debt securities with the objective of generating a steady income while preserving capital. Based on the kind, and mix of debt securities they invest in, debt funds are broadly classified under the three heads - income funds, gilt funds and liquid funds.
Discount premium to NAV
The percentage difference between the market price of a unit and its NAV. If a scheme's market price is higher than its NAV is said to be trading at a premium; if the price is lower, it is said to be trading at a discount.
Dividends
Payments made by mutual fund to its unit holders from the income generated by it.
Dividend plan
The investment plan that periodically distributes the gains received by it as dividends.
Dividend reinvestment plan
An investment plan which in certain circumstances acts as a tax efficient option to the growth plan. In this plan dividends are declared, but not paid out. Instead the amount is reinvested in the scheme.
E
Electronic Clearing Mechanism
A mode of transferring money from one bank account to another bank account electronically, without issuing cheques. Most funds offer the ECS facility, which you can sign up for to receive sale proceeds and dividends directly in your bank accounts.
ELSS (Equity-Linked Savings Schemes)
Diversified equity funds that additionally offer a tax rebate under section 80C on investments up to ₹1,50,000.
Entry Load
Entry load was the amount or fee charged from an investor while entering a scheme or joining the company as an investor. In August 2009, SEBI abolished entry loads.
Exit Load
Exit load is the charge you pay the fund house, if you wish to exit the scheme before a stipulated period.
Exchange traded fund
Listed cousins of index funds. ETFs score over index funds in that their expenses are lower and they let you buy and sell the index they track at real time prices.
Expense ratio
Every scheme incurs various costs towards managing your money, which it covers from you within limits. The expense ratio of a scheme is its costs expressed as percentage of its corpus and is an indicator of how much it charges you. For example, in a given year, if your scheme returns 10% and shows an expense ratio of 2%, it effectively means that it earned 12% but it is used up 2% points of that to meet various expenses.
Equity funds
The class of schemes that invest primarily in stocks.
F
Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs)
Short term debt funds (upto one year) with a fixed date of maturity. Such schemes invest in debt instruments that mature around the same time as the scheme itself so as to minimize interest rate risk.
Folio number
A unique account number, akin to a bank account number given by fund house to you. By quoting your folio number, you can get a list of your unit holdings with the fund houses.
Fund Fact Sheet
A newsletter sent by a mutual fund to its unit holders, either quarterly or half yearly. The newsletter reviews performance of all its schemes during the reference period, gives important scheme information such as portfolio details, and offers pointers on what lies ahead.
Fund house
Another way of referring to a mutual fund.
Fund manager
The person responsible for managing a scheme’s money.
Fund of funds
Schemes that, instead of investing in stocks and bonds, provide the same exposure indirectly by investing in other mutual fund schemes.
Futures
Futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a specific amount of a commodity or financial instrument at a particular price on a stipulated future date.
G
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
A widely accepted set of rules, conventions, standards, and procedures for reporting financial information, as established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
Gilt funds
A class of debt funds that invest in government securities and treasury bills with the objective of generating steady and regular returns while taking on modest levels of risk.
Government Securities
Debt securities of tenures of every one-year issued by the government. Since the government issues them, they don't carry any risk of default.
Growth plans
One of the investment plans offered by mutual funds wherein all gains are reinvested back in the scheme. If your investment objective is to accumulate earnings, a growth plan should be your preferred plan.
H
Hedge
An investment made in order to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in a security, by taking an offsetting position in a related security, such as an option or a short sale.
Hedge Fund
A fund usually used by wealthy individuals or an institution, which is allowed to use aggressive strategies that are unavailable to mutual funds, including selling short, leverage, program trading, swaps, arbitrage, and derivatives.
I
Index
A statistical indicator providing a representation of the value of the securities which constitute it. Indices often serve as barometers for a given market or industry and benchmarks against which financial or economic performance is measured.
Income fund
A debt fund that invests mostly in bonds issued by companies and government securities both instruments with long tenures. An income fund aims to maximize debt returns for the medium to long term.
Index fund
A scheme whose portfolio mirrors an index, both in terms of composition and individual stock weight ages. It's a passive investment option, as a fund's performance will mimic the index concerned, barring a minor tracking error.
Initial Net Asset Value
Portfolio's Net Asset Value (NAV) on its inception date.
Interest Rate Risk
Risk that interest rates will change, affecting the value of an investment.
Investment Objective
The result desired by an investor or mutual fund.
Investment Philosophy
An overall set of investment principles or strategies.
Initial Public Offering
The maiden sale of units in a scheme through a process similar to that for new share issues. However, unlike shares, it does not matter whether you buy units through an IPO or from the fund house subsequently.
Issue
A stock or bond which has been offered for sale by a corporation or government entity, usually through an underwriter or in a private placement.
L
Leverage
As a means of enhancing returns many close-ended funds may issue senior securities or borrow money to "leverage" their investments position. This strategy allows closed-end funds the ability to enhance yield and offer higher levels of current income in comparison to most open-end funds.
Liquidity Risk
Risk that the marketplace will not have enough buyers when an investor seeks to sell a security or enough sellers when an investor seeks to buy a security.
Liquid Funds
A scheme that invests in short-term debt instruments such as treasury bills, commercial paper and the call money market. Its objective is to preserve principal while yielding a moderate return and offering high liquidity.
Load-Adjusted Return
The return on a mutual fund adjusted downward to reflect any sales fees, whether front-end or back-end.
Lock-in period
The period for which investments made in a scheme cannot be withdrawn. In mutual funds, a lock-in period of three years is applicable on equity-linked savings schemes.
M
Management Fee
The market for short-term debt instruments maturing in one year or less. Money market instruments include T-bills, Commercial Paper, Bankers' Acceptances, CD's and Federal Funds.
Market Capitalization
Market Capitalization is calculated as the product of price and shares outstanding.
Money Market
The market for short-term debt instruments maturing in one year or less. Money market instruments include T-bills, Commercial Paper, Bankers' Acceptances, CD's and Federal Funds.
Monthly Income Plans
Debt-based schemes whose objective is to generate modest, but stable returns, preferably on a monthly basis.
Market risks
Risks that the value of the Company's share may fall down completely. Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks.
Mutual Fund
A mechanism through which like-minded investors come in to invest money, to make a very large sum. This large sum is then invested in diverse investments such as Equities, Debt or a combination of both. The Fund's objective and plan is mentioned in the Offer Document.
N
Net Asset Value
The simplest measure of how a scheme is performing. It tells how much each unit is worth at any point of time. A scheme's NAV is its net assets (the market value of the financial securities it owns minus whatever it owes) divided by the number of units it has issued.
No load fund
A scheme that doesn't charge any processing fee - in investment parlance, load-at the time of entry or exit.
O
Offer document
A document that contains information pertaining to a scheme, intended to help you make an informed decision on whether you want to invest in it or not. Also referred to as the prospectus.
Open-ended fund
A scheme that investors can enter and exit at any point of time, at its then prevailing NAV. This convenience gives it the edge over close-ended schemes, and makes it the preferred option, for mutual funds and investors alike.
P
P/E Ratio
The ratio of the last closing price and the earnings per share.
Personal Identification Number (PIN)
An identification number given by a mutual fund to its unit holders to enable various kinds of self-service transactions such as buying and selling units over the Internet and checking an account statement on the fund's website.
Portfolio
Holdings of securities by an individual or institution. A portfolio may contain bonds, preferred stocks, common stocks, and other securities.
Portfolio Turnover Ratios
A measure of how frequently a scheme buys or sells securities. A fund with an annual turnover rate of 100 percent is said to replace the entire portfolio through the course of a year, whereas a fund with a 50 percent turnover rate replaces half its holdings.
Preferred Stock
Capital stocks which provide a specific dividend that is paid before any dividends are paid to common stock holders, and which take precedence over common stock in the event of liquidation.
Premium
The amount by which a bond or stock sells above its par value. Also, the amount by which a close-ended fund’s market price exceeds the value of its holdings.
Price/Book (P/B) Ratio
The P/B ratio of a stock is calculated by dividing the current price of the stock by the company's per share book value. Generally, a high P/B ratio indicates that the price of the stock exceeds the actual worth of the company's assets.
Prospectus
The official selling circular that must be given to purchasers of new securities registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. It discloses such material information as the issuer's property and business, the nature of the security offered, management's experience, and history.
R
Record date
The date on which a scheme's books are closed to finalize the list of unit holders who will be entitled to receive the benefits such as dividends, rights and bonus. Only unit holders whose names are there on the record date will receive the stated benefit.
Redemption/repurchase
When a unit holder sells units back to the mutual fund.
Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTA)
The entity appointed by a mutual fund for servicing its investors.
Repurchase Price
The unit price at which a unit holder sells his units back to the mutual fund. Usually the repurchase price is the NAV less an exit load.
Returns
The gain from an investment in percentage terms. In the context of mutual funds, returns are measured by changes in NAV. So, if you bought units in a scheme when its NAV was ₹10 and sold out when its NAV hit ₹12 after one year, your return works out to 20 percent (2/10*1000).
Risk
The chance of loss on an investment due to many factors including inflation, interest rates, default, politics, foreign exchange, etc.
S
SEBI
The capital market regulator, also responsible for regulating the mutual fund industry.
Sector funds
The riskiest among equity funds, sector funds invest only in the stocks of a specific industry.
Sharpe Ratio
A ratio to measure risk-adjusted performance. It is calculated by subtracting the risk-free rate from the rate of return for a portfolio and dividing the result by the standard deviation of the portfolio returns. The Sharpe ratio tells us whether the returns of a portfolio are due to good investment decisions or a result of excess risk. A fund is a good investment if the higher returns do not come with too much additional risk. Higher ratio indicates more returns than relative risk taken.
Standard Deviation
A statistical measure of performance fluctuations - generally the higher the standard deviation, the greater the expected volatility of returns. Standard deviation, a historical measure, cannot be used to predict fund performance.
Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)
SIP allows an investor to invest a predetermined amount in a scheme at set intervals and derive the benefit of fluctuating share prices and NAVs. So, when the share price drops, the investor gets more units and when the share price moves up, he gets less.
Systematic Transfer Plan (STP)
STP allows an investor to transfer a predetermined amount from one scheme to another scheme in the same fund house at set intervals.
Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP)
A payment plan that lets you withdraw predetermined amounts from your investments as in a scheme at periodic intervals. The USP of an SWP is its tax efficiency, which makes it a good alternative to periodic dividend plans.
T
Taxable Income
The amount of income subject to income taxes found by subtracting the appropriate deductions from adjusted gross income.
Tracking error
The difference between the returns generated by an index fund and the index it tracks, usually on the negative side. If a fund has a tracking error of 1 percent, it means the fund returned 1 percent less than the index it tracks returned over the same period. Tracking error arises because even a passive fund like an index fund incurs various expenses like fund management fee, brokerage and agents commission.
Treasury bills
Debt securities of maturity of less than one year issued by the government. The government tag means they don't carry any default risk; however, they are still susceptible to price fluctuations.
Triggers
An actionable facility that lets you specify targets for your mutual fund investments. When this target is reached, the fund house will by itself redeem your units and mail the cheque to you. Typically, triggers are based on value (for instance, a 20 percent rise in NAV) or time (specific day like the budget or the financial year closing).
Trustee
Internal regulators in a mutual fund whose job is to ensure that the fund house is safeguarding the interests of the unit holders.
U
Unit
The currency of a mutual fund. A unit in a mutual fund scheme means one share in the assets of a scheme.
Unit holder
A person or entity who holds units in a scheme.
V
Volatility
The relative rate at which the price of a security moves up and down.
Y
Yield
The dividends or interest paid by a security (stock, bond, fund, etc.) expressed as a percentage of the current price. It is calculated by taking the dividend amount and dividing it into the current price of the security.
Yield Curve
A curve that shows the relationship between yields and maturity dates for a set of similar bonds, usually Treasuries, at a given point.
Yield to Maturity
The yield of a bond to maturity takes into account the price discount from, or premium over, the face amount. It is greater than the current yield when the bond is selling at a discount and less than the current yield when the bond is selling at a premium.
