What are investment funds?
The long version of day 1.
Learning
Learning courses
Five short lessons, one for each day of a working week, on the things an investor in funds has to understand: how a fund works, what its documents say, what it costs, what risk means and how a trade is executed. Each lesson takes about fifteen minutes and ends with a tool to try it on. No prior knowledge is assumed.
The five-day course
Day 1 is open to everyone. Open a free account to unlock days 2 to 5, take the quizzes and save your progress.
- Day 1
How a fund works
Pooling, units and the net asset value; open-ended and closed-ended funds; UCITS, AIFs and ETFs; who does what, and what you actually own.
- Day 2
Reading the documents
The Key Information Document section by section, the prospectus, the annual report and the factsheet, and the five things to check before you invest.
- Day 3
What a fund really costs
The TER and what it leaves out, performance fees, entry and exit charges, your broker's fees, and how costs compound over twenty years.
- Day 4
Risk, and how to spread it
Market, credit, liquidity, currency and concentration risk; the risk indicator; what diversification does and does not do; time.
- Day 5
How a trade is executed
Order types, the spread, venues and best execution, settlement, leveraged products and the rules for private clients, and how to read a confirmation.
Explainers and glossary
Reading a Key Information Document
The long version of day 2, with a worked example.
What the TER includes
The long version of day 3.
Glossary
The terms used on this platform and in our reports, from accrued interest to yield, in plain words.
Get more from the platform with a free account
Everything on this page is free to use. With an account you also get:
- The full five-day course with quizzes
- Your progress saved
- A call from our research team, if you want one