Mutual funds have risen in popularity due to the fact that it is often considered by investors as a safe and effective means of generating money. A group of people or a company generally makes up a mutual fund and it is these people that handle the selling of the shares. When these investments are pooled together, they are then invested into a diversified selection of securities. In the end, you stand to gain your share of the money gained whilst minimizing the risks associated with investments.

The Sharpe ratio has long been used as a risk-to-return performance measure. The Sharpe ratio is computed by dividing the average excess return by the standard deviation of excess returns, where excess return is the actual return less the average T-Bill rate for the same period. The result is a measure of excess return per unit of risk. This is a very significant and useful statistic but it is not particularly intuitive to the average investor, who is accustomed to thinking in terms of actual returns. The Sharpe ratio is the best purely quantitative measure for comparing mutual funds, but for most investors, comparing risk-adjusted returns is a necessary step in the process, as it makes the comparison in terms with which they are familiar.

When you invest with a mutual fund, you are given the ease of selection through just a click of a mouse. There are hundreds of different types of mutual funds available for your consideration. You should research on which type works best for you as an investor. What you should be looking out for is a particular type of mutual fund that has fewer risks, gains you the amount of money you want, and the period of time you are willing to wait. You can easily communicate these to your fund manager who can adjust your investments according to your preferences.

Not only investors and those nearing retirement can benefit from a mutual fund, the young generation can, too. Those single individuals or single parents or young individuals who just want to start all over again can do so with a mutual fund. Mutual funds accept small investments even those under a thousand dollars. Though you start small, there are dozens of investors who pool their investments together with yours, all for one purpose, to make more money.

Not much is lost by computing risk-adjusted returns in this manner and the result is much more useful to the general public. What is lost is the measure of excess returns, but that isn’t the objective of computing risk-adjusted returns. Rather, the objective is to compare mutual funds on a relative basis in terms that are meaningful to the average investor. As long as the funds that are being compared are similar in nature and their returns cover the same period of time, using the risk-adjusted return for comparing mutual funds is reasonably reliable basis for selection that will lead you to the same selection as the Sharpe ratio more often than not. However, as the possibility of a sub-optimal selection exists, it’s best to use go one more step with the quantitative analysis.

The financial services industry’s goal is to reduce their costs and increase client retention by making it harder for you move your money elsewhere. My goal is to manage my clients‘ money in such a way that protects what they’ve worked so hard to acquire without limiting their flexibility.

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