Mutual Funds 101 by the Book By Linda Stern WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sometimes it helps to go back to the beginning and start simple -- to relearn why you've invested in mutual funds and how to make the most of them. That can be daunting: Today there are almost 9,000 mutual funds, including some that trade like stocks, some that have arcane investment objectives and many that seem to have unique selling points but near-identical portfolios hidden behind their prospectuses. If your brain hurts already, consider a new workbook series for the overwhelmed fund investor from Morningstar, the Chicago research firm. "The Fearless Investing Series: Mutual Funds Workbooks" (Wiley, 2005, $19.95 each) is a series of three books that take readers from basics like "What is a mutual fund?" all the way through "Using quirky bond funds" and "Calculating your own cost basis." There's good news about all three books: Each is structured like a self-paced course, so readers can read, review with a worksheet, take a quiz (answers in the back) and generally reinforce each bit of knowledge before moving on. Each book includes a clear, concise glossary so that puzzled investors can look up terms they find in magazines, newspapers and on Web sites without reading straight through. Families or friends who have resolved to learn more about investing this year can use the books as fodder for a study group. They'll learn a lot and perhaps save a bit, too, if they can share the somewhat hefty $60 price tag for all three books. Not everything about this set is wonderful: At the most fundamental levels of investing, the first book gives readers basic information that can be found in many other places, often for free. There are also pockets of triteness (Do we really need key highlighted facts like "Remember: It was Kenny Rogers who said 'You've gotta know when to hold 'em'?") At the highest levels of fund analysis, the books self-referentially send readers back to the Morningstar Web site and methodology for analyzing, ranking and recommending funds. That's not all awful: For most individual investors, Morningstar supplies much of the useful fund data that is available for free on its site and others, such as yahoo.com. (The main alternative, Lipper, which is a unit of Reuters Group PLC, limits much of its data to paid subscribers but offers some mutual fund information on its lipperleaders.com Web site and on the Reuters.com Web site.) But to the extent that the books frame fund investment decisions in Morningstar terms like "style boxes" and "star ratings," it limits readers' ability to take the learning and move on independently. Those are quibbles, though. Anyone who has never invested in a mutual fund, or who thinks they might be invested in too many mutual funds, could learn a lot from these books.     Continued ... Quelle "Mutual Funds 101 by the Book" : reuters.com Main page for "Mutual Funds 101 by the Book"