Intermediate
Funds and ETFs
Pooled vehicles: mutual funds vs ETFs — structure literacy, not product picks. Education only — not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold anything.
Why packages exist
Funds pool money to hold a basket of holdings with professional or rules-based management. You own shares of the fund, not each underlying one-by-one (operationally).
Mutual fund vs ETF (lite)
- Mutual funds — typically end-of-day NAV pricing.
- ETFs — exchange-traded during the day; market price can differ slightly from NAV.
- Both still carry market risk of their holdings.
Costs to name
- Expense ratios, loads (if any), bid–ask on ETFs, tracking difference.
- Low fee ≠ low risk.
Prospectus habit
Objective, holdings policy, risks, and fees live in fund docs. Literacy = reading before liking the ticker.
Practice tip: Compare wrappers on Stock vs ETF vs crypto; practice fake ETF tickets on /mock/.