what are three good mutual funds to start off with and how do you go about obtaining them?

Answer 1

"Good" depends on your age, risk level, and finances.

Check T. Rowe Price ( http://www.TRowePrice.com ) and do your research there.

Or, get a Money Magazine or 3 and do your research there. Money is the better option, because they go over different scenarios, ie, college student living on his/her own, to retired empty nest couple.

Answer 2

Learn about "asset allocation". It's the most important thing to know (there are many more... but before you do anything you must understand "asset allocation".

As a "taste" of the market, a good S&P500 index fund might be the best way to go. They can be purchased (with no sales fee & very low internal fees from Vanguard and Fidelity.

Good large cap (managed) funds can be gotten from;
T. Rowe Price
Vanguard
Fidelity

Just call their toll free numbers or check out their respective web sites.

Answer 3

A good fund for you depends on your objectives and how much money you have to invest. First I would never consider a load fund. If I were to invest all of my money in three funds, I would invest in the following.
Westwood Mighty Mites. (WEMMX) a micro cap fund.
Gabelli Asset. (GABAX) a value fund.
DFA Emerging Markets Small Cap (DEMSX).
To obtain them you can go to a major brokerage house such as Fidelity or Vanguard. Or you can go to the fund family direct.

Answer 4

You need to think about what your objective is before investing and what your tolerance for risk is. If you are very aggresive and are investing money which you can afford to lose, then invest in higher return funds. Normally those have to do with precious metals and internatinal investments.

Since you are looking for three funds you may want to go with a very high risk fund, a high risk and a moderate risk fund.

You also need to look at funds which you can start with a lowr investment..say 500-1000 dollars. I would check out this link which gives the 70 best funds and gives examples of what will meet your goals..............http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestfunds/2007/

Answer 5

I would recommend an index fund over a mutual fund. I don't believe the majority of mutual funds perform at or better than most index funds and with an index fund, you don't have to pay the overhead you would have to pay someone to manage a mutual fund.