Building Your Mutual Fund Portfolio

With thousands of mutual funds available, choosing the right one for you may be a daunting task. Here are some things to consider.

Consider your investment goals.
When choosing a fund, the fund's goals should match your own. Your local Edward Jones financial advisor will help you determine your investment goals:

• What are you saving for?
  
• What is your time frame?
  
• How much risk are you willing to take?

Identify your asset allocation needs.
After identifying your financial goals, your financial advisor will recommend the appropriate mix of investments based on your stage of investing and risk tolerance. Visit our investment pyramid to learn about the four stages of investing and our recommended portfolio weightings for each stage. This will help prepare your for a discussion with your financial advisor about identifying the type of mutual funds that can help meet your investment objectives.

Do Your Research
It's important to do your research before selecting mutual funds to invest in. At Edward Jones, we have analysts dedicated to researching the mutual funds we offer our clients. Your local Edward Jones financial advisor is available to assist you in analyzing the research and determining which mutual funds may be appropriate for you.

Establish an Investing Strategy
A mutual fund can be added to your portfolio in several ways. One way to build a mutual fund portfolio is through an investment approach called dollar cost averaging, which is a regular and disciplined investment program. If you invest the same amount each month into the same fund, you buy fewer shares when the price is high and more shares when the price is low, helping to even out the market's ups and downs.

Although dollar coast averaging can't guarantee a profit or prevent a loss, it helps ensure you won't invest all your money at a market high. Dollar cost averaging can be an appropriate strategy to approach when investing over the long term. Such a plan involves continuous investment in securities, the investor consider the financial ability to continue the purchases through periods of low price levels.

Talk to Your Financial Advisor
Your financial advisor will review with you your current financial status. You'll discuss topics such as your investment time horizon, current savings and investments, income needs and amount of debt. You'll also talk about your risk tolerance and life stage as you determine if mutual funds make sense for your portfolio.

It is important for your financial advisor to understand how comfortable you are when taking risks with investing. This is the best way we have found to be able to recommend a portfolio that is suited to your unique needs.

Mutual Fund investing involves risk. Your principal and investment return in a mutual fund will fluctuate in value. Your investment, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost.

Diversification does not assure a profit and does not protect against loss.

*Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, changes and expenses of the mutual fund before investing. A prospectus containing this and other information about the mutual fund can be obtained from your local Edward Jones financial advisor and should be read carefully before investing.