| 12b-1 fees | Annual fees charged by a mutual fund to pay for marketing and distribution costs.
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| Closed-end (mutual) fund | A fund whose shares are traded through brokers at market prices; the fund will not redeem shares at their net asset value. The market price of the fund can differ from the net asset value.
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| Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) | Offshoots of mutual funds that allow investors to trade portfolios of securities just as they do shares of stock.
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| Hedge fund | A private investment pool, open to institutional or wealthy investors, that is exempt from SEC regulation and can pursue more speculative policies than mutual funds.
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| Investment company | Firm managing funds for investors. An investment company may manage several mutual funds.
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| Load | Sales charge on the purchase of some mutual funds.
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| Net asset value (NAV) | The value of each share expressed as assets minus liabilities on a per-share basis.
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| Open-end (mutual) fund | A fund that issues or redeems its own shares at their net asset value (NAV).
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| Soft dollars | The value of research services that brokerage houses supply to investment managers "free of charge" in exchange for the investment managers' business.
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| Turnover | The ratio of the trading activity of a portfolio to the assets of the portfolio.
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| Unit investment trust | Money invested in a portfolio whose composition is fixed for the life of the fund. Shares in a unit trust are called redeemable trust certificates, and they are sold at a premium above net asset value.
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