Glossary
Mutual fund
A mutual fund pools money from many investors to hold many stocks or bonds at once, and its shares are priced once per trading day.
Updated September 15, 2026
A mutual fund pools money from many investors and holds many stocks or bonds at once. One share represents a slice of everything the fund owns. You buy shares from the fund and sell them back to it, rather than trading with another investor.
Shares are priced once per trading day. After regular trading ends at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, the fund values its holdings, subtracts what it owes and divides by shares outstanding to get the net asset value per share. An order placed at 11 a.m. is filled at that end-of-day price.
Mutual funds are offered inside 401(k) plans and IRAs. Funds charge an annual fee taken from fund assets, and some add a sales charge when you buy or sell. They are not bank deposits and not insured against loss: if the investments fall, so do your shares.
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How this definition was made
- Written by an AI model (Claude) following Teloria's editorial standard.
- Every factual claim was checked by a separate AI fact-check against official US government and regulator sources.
Official sources consulted
- investor.gov · /introduction-investing/investing-basics/investment-products/mutual-funds-and-exchange-traded-funds-etfs/mutual-funds
- investor.gov · /introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/net-asset-value
- sec.gov · /rules-regulations/2003/12/amendments-rules-governing-pricing-mutual-fund-shares
- dol.gov · /sites/dolgov/files/EBSA/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/fact-sheets/dol-transparent-401k-fees-fact-sheet.pdf
- sec.gov · /resources-investors/investor-alerts-bulletins/mutual-fund-fees-expenses
- sec.gov · /oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/ib_mfprospectus2