The variety of financial instruments available in the American markets is constantly growing. Parties active in the market, including banks and other financial institutions, present the investment community products that can be tailored to any preference.
In the coming chapters we will present five different financial instruments.
- Mutual Funds (Chapter 6)
Over the past few decades, American investors have made mutual funds one of the most popular tools. Today, there are more than eight thousand active mutual funds, and trillions of dollars are invested in them. Various professional, easy to use analytic tools have been developed to help each investor find the fund that matches his needs. - Exchange Traded Funds (Chapter 3)
Exchange traded funds are mutual funds whose shares are traded on the market just like corporate stocks. These funds combine the advantages of investing in mutual funds with those of investing in stocks. The majority of exchange traded funds are index funds which are based on familiar stock indices.
- Structured Products (Chapter 8)
Structured products are those that grant an investor a guaranteed return, alongside other possible gains, at a specific date. The two main forms of structured products are:
- Structured Deposits.
- Structured Bonds.
- Hedge Funds (Chapter 6)
Hedge funds are primarily directed for institutional investors, and large private investors. Hedge funds operate beyond the reach of regulatory supervision, and their activities are often focused around high risk, speculative investments.
- REITs – Real Estate Investment Trusts (Chapter 7)
REITs are trusts with profitable, tradable, real estate holdings. REITS allow small, private investors to gain exposure to real estate investments, without having to purchase whole properties. There are REITs that are compiled from all of the different real estate sectors.
