JOJI FELECITAS B. PANTOJA, BSc
Financial Planning Advisor

CAREER                                                                                                                                             joji@waves.ca

You're a focused career person.

You're enjoying the fruits of your labor.  You sense the need to manage your hard-earned income.  You're also thinking about the future.  Is it building a capital for a business?  Is it about getting married?  Is it about your long-overdue travel plans?  Do you want to continue your education?  Perhaps you want to pay off that nagging debt?

A dream is a desire to go somewhere without the necessary means to get there.  A vision is a picture of a better future and having the necessary plans and strategies to get there.

Turn your dream into a vision.  Make that vision a reality!  Start your future today.  Call Joji Pantoja.  She listens.

INVESTMENT TOOLS FOR CAREER PEOPLE

» RRSP Calculator 
» RRSP Illustrator 
» RRSP Loan Planner 
» Advantage of Early Investing 
» Registered vs. Non-Registered Investing 
» Cash Flow Illustrator 
» Net Worth Illustrator

"If you're an Information Technology professional, you can write your own ticket."  That's what I used to say when IT companies used to run after me...  Now, I'm an independent IT consultant.  That means, I'm not employed by a big IT corporation anymore.  Income doesn't come regularly.

Joji Pantoja encouraged me to set up a plan when regular income was great.  That's why I can afford to be an independent IT consultant right now.

LESTER JAMES, 32
Program Engineer

What's This Thing Called Mutual Funds?

Millions of Canadians are working toward their financial goals by investing their money in mutual funds. Whether it's saving for retirement or putting aside cash for a down payment on a home, mutual funds are becoming the investment of choice for a growing number of people.

Simply put, a mutual fund is a pool of investments made on behalf of a large group of people. Here's how it works: When you buy a mutual fund, you're actually putting your money together with that of many other people who like the same sorts of investments as you. A professional investment expert, known as a portfolio manager, takes that large pool of cash and invests it for the whole group. If the manager's choices of investments make a profit, you share that profit with everyone else in the group. If the investments lose money, everyone shares in the loss.

 

	The Investment of Choice Whether it's saving for retirement or putting aside cash for a down payment on a home, mutual funds are becoming the investment of choice for a growing number of people.

Sold in units
When you invest in mutual funds, you're buying a piece of the fund called a unit. Together these units make up the mutual fund, which is operated by mutual fund companies. Mutual fund companies keep track of all the individual investments by recording how many units each investor owns. The more money you put into a mutual fund, the more units you get. The price of a unit changes every day, depending on how well the investments are performing. When the investments are doing well, the price of a unit goes up. When the investments aren't doing as well, the price of the units goes down.

You make money on mutual funds if you buy your units at one price and sell them later at a higher price. Of course, you lose money if you sell your units for less than you paid for them.

 

	What do mutual funds invest in?

Mutual funds invest in many of the same things as individual investors - everything from treasury bills to shares on foreign stock markets. Mutual fund companies offer a variety of funds that let you put your money into many types of investments. For example, there are funds for people who want to buy short-term fixed-income investments and funds for those who want their money to go into Canadian stock markets. There are funds that specialize in buying shares in a specific sector, such as financial services companies, and funds that invest in a specific geographic region, such as Japan.

Portfolio managers buy many types of investments. While there are thousands of different investments available, they generally fit into two basic types: debt and equity.

Debt securities
Debt securities (or fixed-income securities) are obligations for an issuer to repay a sum of money, usually with interest. The issuer is typically a company or a government. Probably the most familiar kind of debt security is a guaranteed income certificate (GIC) from a bank. The bank uses your money for a set length of time and in return, agrees to pay back the original money with interest.

Debt securities are also an important way for companies and governments to raise money. They frequently sell debt securities called bonds and use the cash for major projects, or just to meet their daily expenses.

The government or company usually agrees to pay back the amount of the debt security within a set amount of time. If that period of time is about a year or less, the investment is often referred to as a money market instrument, which is a specific type of fixed-income security. Examples are short-term bonds and government treasury bills. If the length of time is more than about a year, the investment is often referred to as a fixed-income investment. Examples are corporate and government bonds and mortgages.

Equity securities
Equity securities are investments that give the holder part ownership in a company. When a mutual fund buys equity securities, it is buying a piece of a business. The most familiar example is common shares traded on the stock market.

Equity securities can earn money in two ways. The value of the shares can rise (or fall) as people buy and sell them on stock exchanges. If a company appears to be doing well in its business, more people may want to buy a piece of it and the price is likely to go up. On the other hand, if a company's business doesn't seem to be doing well, investors may decide to sell their piece of the company and the price is likely to go down. Some kinds of equity securities also pay you a portion of any profits the company may earn. These payments are called dividends.

 

	What advantages do mutual funds have?

You could make many of the same investments that managers of mutual funds make. So why bother buying mutual funds? There are several advantages.

Professional management
For one thing, professional portfolio managers make all the decisions about exactly which securities to invest in and when to buy or sell them. It's their full-time job, so you don't have to spend the time making these investment decisions on your own. Professional managers also have access to information and research that isn't readily available to individual investors.

Diversification
A second advantage is something called diversification. Diversification means owning several different investments at once. Here's why it's important: The value of your investments will go up and down over time; that's the nature of investing. But not all investments are likely to go up or down at the same time, or to the same extent.

Diversification may help your portfolio achieve better returns over the long term. Since mutual funds typically hold 30 or more investments, they offer a simple way to diversify your portfolio.

Easy access to your money
Unlike some other types of investment, mutual funds are liquid. This means you can sell your units at almost any time and get your money when you need it (even though you may get less than you invested).

Record keeping
And finally, mutual funds make your investments easier to keep track of. Mutual fund companies help you with the details by sending you regular financial reports, tax slips, and statements.

Investment is like growing a tree.  You plant the seed, water it,
watch it sprout, nurture it, watch it grow, watch it bear fruit...