Collective investment forms. Collective investment - forms

Investment - investment of finance in a project with the aim of making a profit. Economics views investment as a process that reflects changes in value. In simple terms, investment is a kind of saving money in the future, which allows you to make a profit after a while. Investing money in securities, as one of the most promising and accepted in the world economic community, deserves special attention. Allocate individual, collective investment in the securities market. In the first case, a person buys assets in the primary, secondary market, over-the-counter or on the exchange. Collective investment involves the purchase of shares, shares of respective funds, companies.

Impact on society

To our days, the economy has already accumulated a large stock of knowledge devoted to investing in all its aspects. Based on the example of investors of the past and present, we can confidently say that collective investment has many significant advantages. First of all, it is a benefit for the population of the country where the economy is developing in this direction. The reason is that collective investment in Russia attracts capital investments to the state from various sources, which stabilizes the economy and provokes its development.

With the growth of investment, the volumes of collected taxes increase, which has a favorable effect on social programs, budget companies financed by the government of the country. This leads to an increase in demand for securities issued by the government, but the cost of borrowing decreases. Individuals taken separately receive tools to increase income and new ways to preserve existing funds.

Investment and economics

Investment needs can be met in a variety of ways. Their diversity helps to protect the interests of investors and stabilize the economy, which gives rise to confidence in it on the part of individuals. Collective investment has the most positive effect on the financial situation in the country, at the same time, it intensifies competition between different structures wishing to receive money from the population for further work on stock exchanges.

The development of investment in the future should provoke an increase in the shares of enterprises that attract the most impressive funds. True, at the moment, experts agree that the forms of collective investment in Russia are not well developed, so money cannot work with full efficiency. Efficiency can be increased if the economic and social situation in the country is improved, which will provoke the growth of the financial market.

What does it take to be successful?

Analysts and financiers agree that in our country the collective investment market will begin to grow actively when corporate securities finally cease to be objects of double taxation. Another aspect is not a large selection of objects in which you can invest money. To improve the situation, the state must take measures to expand the securities market.

Also, the country lacks laws governing collective investment. These should be regulations reflecting the real state of affairs in the securities market, that is, meeting the requirements of the exchange players. Collective investment needs unification, additional mechanisms to protect the interests of investors and their rights. Development is possible only if there are mechanisms that increase reliability.

Not all at once

However, even if everything described above is put into effect, collective investment institutions will need some time for real development. Managers must become professionals who are excellent at dealing with the situation in the stock market, they must learn to navigate in an ever-changing environment.

The introduction of new legislation will allow, after some time, to achieve:

• impressive proceeds from funds placed in profitable assets;
• control over the activities of investment funds;
• competition for investors and their funds between different firms, as well as between banks involved in this system.

Key Benefits

Collective forms of investment have long been tested at the global level and have shown themselves as a profitable method of doing business, when a potential investor has small funds, but is ready to invest them in some business that potentially looks profitable. At the same time, such a person gets access to the advantages inherent in large structures: banks, funds, insurers.

Collective investment forms involve asset management by professionals. This is the first and most significant advantage of this way of making money work. If the funds of numerous participants are controlled centrally by specialists with a high level of qualifications, certified for work in the financial sector, with many years of experience, there is no doubt that the risks will be minimized and the profit will be maximized.

Important factors: timing and clarity

Modern institutions of collective investment estimate time as the most expensive human resource. This means that investors, if they trust a special company to manage their resources, expect efficiency, but save their time. Turning to funds allows you to avoid studying the market situation and mastering the mechanisms with which you can make money on the stock exchange. It is believed that this is an important advantage of collective investment, since managing specialists spend all their working time precisely on monitoring the situation and adjusting it in the right direction.

Transparency, in turn, requires reporting in detail. In this regard, collective investment funds are much more understandable than any banking structure in which a deposit can be made. Every day a specialist firm announces what the net asset price is. Controlling state authorities receive reports on the value of securities, on the qualitative composition of the portfolio of shares. Experts agree that collective investment institutions today are the most transparent instrument available to investors.

Features and risks

Regardless of what types of collective investment are of interest to a potential investor, he can count on the management company to open the Prospectus for him. For an investment fund, this is the main document that reflects the firm's strategy in the stock market. It helps assess risks and anticipate investment returns.

At the same time, you need to understand that there will always be risks - it will not be possible to find such a management company through which a completely safe investment of money will be available. But collective investment securities are protected by the diversification method, when a variety of securities are included in the portfolio. If some lose in value, the profit will be obtained at the expense of others who have jumped in value.

The correct formation of such a portfolio for a private investor seems to be a difficult task, since it requires large financial investments. With regard to collective investment, management companies have funds received from numerous individuals, and in total, a very large amount of money is obtained. Consequently, such a firm acquires promissory notes, deposits and bonds, stocks from various sources. As they say, "don't keep all your eggs in one basket." The concept of collective investment is just the distribution of the notorious eggs into several baskets.

Benefits and savings

Collective investments assume that multiple investments are added up, due to which the portfolio grows quite large. Consequently, the management company gets access to large-scale operations in the stock market. This gives you access to better deals. You can compare this with retail and sweat sales of goods: the larger the purchase, the more favorable conditions the buyer receives. An investment fund, operating with a large amount, can buy shares, investing less money in each individual than a small investor. Operating costs go down, that is, the benefits of the company increase, which affects the profits of all participants who have invested in the organization.

An additional benefit associated with cost savings in collective investment is access to preferential tax rates. Until the investor receives payments, all income is not taxed. Operations within the company are reinvested, but there are no taxes on this as there is no tax on profits. But if a private investor himself performs transactions on the stock exchange, he will have to pay tax on all intermediate profits received from bonds, stocks, dividends, interest.

Collective investment: construction

Over the past few years, it is this direction of investment that has become the most popular in the country, but it is developing most actively in Russia in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Many Russian investors have realized that such an investment is profitable, but safe. Collective investments are represented by investment construction holdings and some other forms.

Through organizations, private investors invest their money in residential and commercial real estate. A good profit is shown by putting money into offices and hotels. Companies organizing investors select an object that promises good returns with minimal risks, assessing the requirements of the fund's participants. The holding deals with legal and technical aspects of cooperation.

Proposals designed for investors with limited resources have become attractive. To take part in the project, you can have free funds in the amount of one hundred thousand rubles or more. This means that an increasing number of individuals can become investors in construction these days.

Object selection

If it was decided to take part in collective investments, you need to be responsible in choosing a property worthy of trust. At the same time, one has to choose between commercial and residential areas. Profitability and costs are estimated, based on the indicators, conclusions are drawn which option is more acceptable and attractive.

In recent years, square meters used for commercial purposes exceed residential ones by 15-25% in price. On the other hand, such territory can be leased out at a more favorable rate. Collective investments in commercial real estate are regarded by many analysts as the preferred option.

Crowdinvesting

Crowdinvesting is a type of joint investment, when a lot of investors with insignificant funds are attracted to implement the conceived project. But the profit from the completed object between the participants will be divided in proportions corresponding to who invested how much in the idea.

Financial experts say that this particular form has the best prospects these days. This is largely due to convenience. In Russia, crowdinvesting is just passing through the stage of formation, there are no laws regulating this area. We have not yet managed to launch such a platform for crowdinvesting that would show good results. However, the dynamics of the development of the financial market is such that we should expect the emergence of opportunities in the near future.

On the example of the capital

The capital is the largest city in Russia, ahead of others in many areas. Joint investment in construction is no exception. However, even here, as experts say, this area is still developing, so there are not very many really working projects. But Moscow investors are interested in collective investments.

It is especially clear from the participants in the local construction market that the largest mass is those who do not have sufficient funds to buy real estate, but want to make a profit by investing in a certain object together with others on equal terms. Many of our contemporaries, having some assets, want to distribute them over several projects in order to protect themselves from the crisis and inflation. Finally, even if there are not many of them, there are people who have enough money to buy some real estate, but are not in a hurry to conclude a deal. Instead, they give money to professionals, hoping to increase the amount over the next few years.

Opportunities and realities

Collective investments are not necessarily managed by professionals. If we consider the sphere of construction, then it is possible to evaluate the purchase of real estate by relatives and friends as a joint investment. As a rule, this is done in order to sell the area in the future at a better price. Sometimes unfamiliar people cooperate in this way, united by the desire to make a profit. Typically, these conclude contracts so that the joint work goes without conflicts. There are also closed-end mutual funds that work with collective investments in real estate.

If we consider collective investments in real estate in St. Petersburg, we can conclude: although in many ways the city is advanced for Russia, nevertheless, this area is still poorly developed, especially in the context of new buildings. A large percentage of transactions with the participation of several people is a joint work of relatives and friends, but this is not common. Collective investments like mutual funds and similar structures are just beginning to attract public attention. But in Moscow, this situation is somewhat better.

Is it worth the risk?

Having a certain amount of cash, a person necessarily thinks about how you can make money work. Collective investments can come to the rescue, but a lot depends on both the place of residence and the area of ​​interest. As already mentioned, the construction sector is still considered the most promising, but it is still developing. However, if you manage to choose a good management company, you can be sure that the money will be directed to a fairly safe project that will bring profit.

What is collective investment,
and how much you can make money on them?

If you are no longer satisfied with the rates on bank deposits, which barely exceed inflation, then it is time to think about investments.

At the same time, the lack of experience in this matter does not at all mean that you will not be able to invest wisely and receive a high and stable income from your investments.

Collective investment instruments were invented specifically for those who want to preserve and increase their savings, but do not have the time and opportunity to delve into the intricacies of the financial market. We will tell you in detail what it is, how risky and profitable it is.

What's the matter ?

Not everyone wants to keep money in the bank today. Interest rates on bank deposits are at multi-year lows; even in the largest Russian banks, the maximum profitability on ruble deposits does not exceed 8.5% per annum, that is, it barely covers inflation.

But the Russian investment market offers a lot of alternative instruments. One of the most affordable of these is collective investment.

The essence of such investment is that the money of private investors goes into a single fund, which is managed by a professional manager or a specialized management company (MC).

This money is then invested in securities, real estate, art, or other profitable assets. At the same time, a private investor has certain insurance: the activities of a management company or a professional manager are regulated by law and controlled by the state.

Collective investment opportunities exist for all assets imaginable, allowing everyone to invest in the same way as the world's most successful investors.

Thus, collective investments imply a relatively low risk with minimal involvement of the investor in the investment process. Another advantage of such investments is that they lower the threshold for entering an expensive asset and allow you to diversify your investments.

That is, on the one hand, the investor gets the opportunity to receive income from an asset, which he could not invest in alone, and on the other hand, he distributes money among different assets. All expenses for the maintenance of a professional manager are divided between the investors,
as well as the threshold of entry into assets, which implies considerable savings.

Passive investment: mutual funds

One of the most popular collective investment instruments are mutual funds (UIF). They appeared in the United States back in the 20s of the last century.

The most active use of collective investment began in the 70s - 80s. At that time, investments in government bonds gave American investors a lot of income. However, these securities could only be purchased if there was capital in excess of $ 10,000. Those who did not have such money united in an investment team, creating the necessary fund (that is, a mutual fund).

In Russia, this form of collective investment emerged in 1996 after Presidential Decree No. 765 "On additional measures to improve the efficiency of the investment policy of the Russian Federation" dated July 26, 1995, which determined the procedure for the creation and functioning of a new investment institution.

However, this institution began to develop fully only in 2001 after the adoption of the federal law on investment funds. In accordance with Russian legislation, all mutual funds were subdivided into open, closed and interval.

Share open fund available to virtually any investor with even a small amount of money. A specialized management company manages the fund's assets.

At any time, an investor can either purchase a share in such a fund or sell it (require the management company to redeem the share). As a rule, such open-ended funds invest in shares and bonds of Russian or foreign companies, which are traded on the stock exchange. The price of a share in an open-ended fund is determined by the market and the fund's income.

Closed-end mutual funds - these are a kind of "clubs for their own". They are created for a specific project, and the investors participating in it accumulate funds for the acquisition or construction of any assets. You can enter such a fund only at the beginning of the project, and exit (present the security company with a security for redemption) when the project is completed (at the same time, on the secondary market, shares of a closed-end investment fund can be purchased and sold at any time).

Since about 2003, similar funds have been actively created in Russia, in particular, for development activities. Investors accumulate funds for the construction of various objects and become owners of real estate after the completion of construction. Few people know, but with the help of the creation of a closed-end mutual fund, one of the most successful shopping centers "Atrium" was built in Russia.

The third form is interval mutual funds, this is an intermediate option. It is possible to demand from the Criminal Code to redeem the share only after a certain time has elapsed.

One of the advantages of this form of investment for a novice investor is control over the management company by the Central Bank (CB).
He issues the management company a license to manage the assets of the fund, and if the rights of shareholders are violated, he can revoke it. Also, the rules of trust management of a mutual investment fund, any changes and additions to them (we are talking about the rules that govern the Criminal Code when managing the fund's assets) are subject to registration with the Central Bank.

It is the Criminal Code that is responsible for whether the shareholders receive income, and what methods of generating income are welcomed by the Criminal Code, as a rule, becomes clear from the name of the fund. Fund managers help investors make a choice by giving them meaningful names, from which it is immediately clear what the fund is investing in (Blue Chip Fund, Fuel and Energy Complex Fund, Liquid Bond Fund, Ruble Bonds, Perspective bonds of Russian companies ", etc.). Detailed information about mutual funds can be obtained on aggregator sites such as Investfunds.ru. You can see what a typical fund card looks like on the Investfunds portal in the screenshot.

Here we see information about the fund: the value of a share, profitability for periods from a month to 3 years, the value of the fund's net assets and their approximate structure, as well as all kinds of coefficients that characterize the quality and style of fund management, including the main ones - Sharpe ratio, alpha - and beta coefficients.

These ratios are designed to help an investor decide whether to invest in a given fund. After all, we can only judge its profitability based on retrospective data, and we plan to receive income in the future.

For example, the Sharpe ratio shows the risk-weighted return of a fund and is used to assess the effectiveness of investing in funds: the higher the indicator, the more the return outpaces risk. The alpha coefficient shows how successfully the manager uses his risk strategy, whether he succeeds in overtaking the market. A positive alpha coefficient is a good indicator for a fund, a negative one is a reason to think about whether it is worth using its services, even if it has shown good returns before.

Funds can invest funds simultaneously in different investment instruments (mixed funds). For example, this is how the structure of a typical mixed investment fund might look like:

However, a significant part of them specialize in one type of assets, for example, stocks, bonds or real estate, in particular, commercial.

According to statistics, in the first quarter of 2017, investors invested 0.68 billion euros in Russian commercial real estate, which is 229.5% more than in the same period in 2016. Moreover, Russia showed the highest growth rates of investment activity among European countries. Closed-end mutual real estate funds (ZPIFN) have also contributed to the development of this trend. In 2016–2017, real estate became the second category of funds after bonds, showing an increase in the number of shareholders.

For example, investors crowdfunding platform AKTIVO, specializing in commercial real estate, have already invested 850 million rubles in closed-end real estate mutual funds "Aktivo-1", "Aktivo-2" and "Aktivo-3".

For each commercial real estate object, the site creates a monofond in the closed-end investment fund format. Fund "Active-1" was created for the supermarket "Pyaterochka" in the city of Lyubertsy, its shares bring investors 13.4% per annum (average annual yield over 10 years), fund "Active-2" - for the supermarket "Victoria" in the city of Lyubertsy. Dolgoprudny, which brings in more than 14% per annum, and the Aktivo-3 fund - under the Gorod shopping center in Yegoryevsk (average yield over ten years is 14%).

The principles of operation of the AKTIVO crowdfunding platform assume passive income, that is, shareholders of the platform's funds should not be looking for tenants, collecting rent, repairing, or paying taxes. All this is done for them by a special management company, in whose trust they have transferred their real estate objects.

"Trust management": who to trust?

Investors can transfer not only real estate to trust management, but also securities, money, gold bars, art objects and much more. In particular, trust management of securities is usually carried out either by a private asset manager or by an investment / brokerage company.

In this case, the principal can choose the strategy for buying / selling securities himself, and the manager only obeys. The strategy, for example, may look like this: 50% - blue chips, 30% - government bonds, 20% - shares of foreign companies. The principal can also join the strategy of the management company, but operations with securities on the exchange are high-risk, and it is almost impossible to guarantee profitability. This means that the reputation and accumulated experience of the manager or investment company come to the fore.

In recent years, companies in Russia that specialize in the trust management of securities are increasingly offering investors so-called “structured products”. The instrument, although relatively new, is very interesting, as it can significantly reduce the investor's risks when investing in securities.

Such a product consists of two parts. The first is represented by financial instruments with a fixed, predetermined yield (for example, corporate or government bonds or an ordinary bank deposit). It is considered to be the risk-free base ingredient of the product. The second part consists of highly profitable and very risky financial instruments - derivatives, futures or options.

The main part of the investor's funds is invested in the first part - more than 90%. The essence of such portfolio diversification is that the income from the first part of the product will in any case cover all possible losses from the second part. It is not surprising that such products have recently been in great demand among non-professional investors. Structured products are now offered by many well-known brokerage companies, for example, BCS, Finam, etc.

Aliens from the past:
"Consumer credit cooperatives"

Consumer credit cooperatives (CCCs) are also in demand today for collective investments, since they provide shareholders with a percentage of savings that is several times higher than in a bank: 14–20% per annum. Mistrust to them from the population also does not arise: CPCs are under the control of the Central Bank, have compensation funds and insure the deposits of shareholders.

The CCPs seem to be aliens from the past and are somewhat reminiscent of Soviet mutual aid funds. And yet, according to the statistics of the Central Bank, such non-profit financial organizations are not a thing of the past, in 2016 there were about 3.4 thousand credit cooperatives in Russia (Bastion, Sberkassa, Gorodskaya Sberkassa, Narodnaya Kassa , "Peter-1" and many others). Today's credit cooperative works like a mini-bank (except that it does not issue cards): it collects funds from depositors and lends money. True, only members of the cooperative can invest or receive a loan (joining a cooperative, of course, is not difficult).

Like banks, cooperatives check citizens and companies that apply to them for a loan, they do not lend to everyone, and the rates on loans in cooperatives are not lower, and sometimes even higher than banking ones. At the same time, cooperators are more loyal to borrowers and less often run over to the help of collectors; it is often easier to achieve debt restructuring here.

Russian lawmakers obliged cooperatives to comply with certain standards. For example, the maximum amount of a loan granted to one member of the CCP should be no more than 10% of the total amount outstanding on loans issued by the cooperative at the time of the decision to grant a loan. Or, the total amount of funds sent by the CPC during the reporting period for purposes not related to the issuance of loans to members of the cooperative cannot exceed 50% of the total amount of funds raised from the CPC members during the corresponding reporting period. The legislation obliges cooperatives to be members of self-regulatory organizations (SRO). And already on the basis of the SRO, compensation funds are created, the funds from which, in the event of the bankruptcy of the cooperative, go to cover the costs of the shareholders.

As a rule, the main creditors (depositors) in such organizations are middle-aged and older people. But the younger generation often prefers other instruments related to collective investments, for example, they participate in crowdinvesting or crowdlanding projects.

Save for retirement:
Non-state pension funds

Since 2014, a "freeze" of the funded part of the pension of citizens has been in effect in Russia, that is, part of the contributions previously transferred to the accounts of non-state pension funds (NPF) and management companies (MC) involved in the formation of funded pensions is directed exclusively to insurance pensions.

At the same time, each person who has made a decision to save up for retirement can independently conclude an agreement with a non-state pension fund (which is also a participant in the collective investment market) and voluntarily donate part of their income to the NPF on a monthly basis. NPF invests savings of citizens and undertakes to pay them a pension.

At the beginning of 2016, there was a considerable amount in the accounts of Russian non-state funds in the amount of 1707.1 billion rubles. Among the largest operators of the pension savings market are the Alor Group of Companies, Otkritie FC, NPF Sberbank, NPF Blagosostoyanie, etc.

The state quite strictly regulates the activities of NPFs, for example, it determines the structure of assets in which such organizations can invest depositors' money. These are the most risk-free instruments: bank deposits, bonds, etc.

Leading NPFs, as a rule, show the profitability higher than the banking one. For example, last year the profitability of some of them reached 9-14% per annum. However, no analyst will undertake to accurately predict that this or that fund will demonstrate high returns for decades from year to year. And this form of voluntary participation in various pension plans of NPFs for Russians, at least for now, is more exotic than a rule.

Collective purchase:
How did the Russians escape the crisis?

However, it is possible to collectively invest not only in the securities of funds, start-ups, commercial real estate, but also in your own apartment, that is, the construction of an apartment building. Many have heard about equity participation agreements (DACs), since they were accompanied by scandals: houses turned out to be unfinished, and equity holders were deceived. Real estate at the excavation stage is cheaper, and many are willing to take risks. According to the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation, the number of equity participation agreements concluded in Russia in 2016 increased by 3.3% compared to 2015. And, for example, in St. Petersburg, according to the regional department of Rosreestr, the number of registered contracts for participation in shared construction in the first nine months of 2016 increased by 46.6% compared to the same period in 2015.

It is easy to explain such a surge: the last crisis was marked by massive participation in construction in Russia. The statistics reflected a surge in sales at the end of 2015: people invested money in inexpensive unfinished housing, which they did not have time to exchange for currency. It is likely that the statistics on equity participation agreements for 2017–2018 will be different. After all, the market for new buildings is close to stagnation, it is more and more difficult for developers to sell completed properties, and investors do not see much sense in investing in housing. Operations with the resale of an apartment in a new building have brought in very little income in recent years (in particular, due to the tax on the sale of real estate, which is paid by the seller who has owned it for less than 5 years). And renting out housing has become unprofitable: the average annual income from renting a Moscow apartment of economy and comfort class does not exceed 4-6% per annum.

Conclusion

Each investment instrument in the collective investment market has its own characteristics, profitability and degree of risk. Will the collective investment market develop in Russia? Probably yes.

The number of active investors in the country today is no more than 3% of the population, the rest have only a deposit in the bank.

Nevertheless, banks' deposit rates are falling, the financial literacy of the population is growing, and more and more potential investors are thinking about where to invest in order to receive income that exceeds the inflation rate.

And one of the first steps towards this is getting to know the collective investment market.

Start your acquaintance with a safe and reliable real estate investment tool -

Collective investment

The average person does not want to know what the market is today - bears or bulls.

He wants to be told which stocks to buy or sell.

He wants to win risk-free. He doesn't want to work. He doesn't even want to think. Even counting the money that he picks up under his feet is a burden for him.

E. Lefebvre. Memories of a stock speculator

Most people do not have the time or proper preparation to engage in investments or the stock market game - this is a serious job that also requires treating yourself as a job. Therefore, participation in the system of collective investments acts as an alternative to the self-placement of their funds.

The first representatives of the institution of collective investment were Voucher Investment Funds (CHIFs). Their main functions were defined as the management of shareholders' assets - vouchers - through their placement in the real sector of the economy: industrial and other objects of privatization. Since 1999, private equity funds ceased to exist: they were transformed into Mutual investment funds, Joint-stock investment funds or organizations in the form of an open joint-stock company.

At present, the infrastructure of collective investments in Russia has already been formed and includes the following forms of organizations:

Non-state pension funds are a special organizational and legal form of a non-profit organization of social services, the exclusive type of activity of which is non-state pension provision of fund participants on the basis of agreements on non-state pensions with fund contributors in favor of fund participants. The mechanism of NPF investment activities is to accumulate pension contributions, place and manage pension assets in order to ensure the safety and increase of capital under management, as well as the payment of non-state pensions through income from investment management. Unlike insurance companies, NPFs are non-profit organizations created in the form of a fund to provide depositors with additional retirement benefits. As a non-profit organization, the proceeds from the management of the attracted assets of the NPF are directed to the implementation of exclusively social tasks.

Insurance companies. Defined as collective investors who form insurance reserves from insurance premiums received under the contract for forthcoming insurance payments. At the expense of reserves and other financial resources of the company (income from insurance and investment activities and receipts), an investment portfolio is formed, taking into account the structure of insurance receipts and in order to increase capital.

Credit unions (associations of credit consumer cooperatives) allow individuals, united in cooperatives, to provide their members with certain financial services: saving money, providing loans and other services stipulated in the charter.

Equity investment funds (aka closed-end funds or investment trusts) raise funds only once, through an initial public offering mechanism. Then their shares can be traded on the secondary market. If you buy a share in such a fund, then the seller is not the fund itself, but another investor. Accordingly, if you sell a share of such a fund, then you are selling it to another investor, and not to the fund itself.

Mutual investment funds (MIFs) are analogs of American mutual funds (mutual fund). They appeared on the Russian stock market in November 1996. Mutual funds are a property complex that is not a legal entity, and perform the functions of accumulating money savings of the population and free cash resources of legal entities for transferring collective assets to the management of professional companies. The share has a certain liquidity within the framework of the respective mutual fund, which allows the owner to make decisions on the advisability of continuing investment activities. The infrastructure of a mutual fund necessarily includes four independent legal entities: a management company - the founder of the mutual fund, a specialized depository, a registrar and an auditing firm; in the case of investing assets in investment instruments requiring appraisal, there is an independent appraiser; to organize the system for the sale and redemption of shares - special agents. Not being a legal entity, a unit investment fund has its own account in a commercial bank, therefore, a credit and settlement organization should be included in the infrastructure of the unit investment fund.

Since January 2003, shares of some mutual funds have been quoted in the MICEX and RTS trading systems. This means that clients of online brokers can buy shares via the Internet like ordinary shares.

A mutual fund is a fund managed by an investment company that collects funds from many people and organizations and invests them in stocks, bonds, options and other securities in the commodity and money markets. Such a fund can hold millions and even billions of rubles. When investing in such a fund, an investor buys a share in it and becomes its co-owner or shareholder, just as he becomes a co-owner of an enterprise if he buys a share. But a mutual fund is not just the sum of its shares. By collecting money from many investors, a mutual fund makes opportunities available to each individual investor that they would not otherwise have.

First, a mutual fund offers professional money management, which would be too expensive for a private investor. A fund is usually a large team that includes a fund manager and many assistants, including researchers and investment decision makers.

Second, a mutual fund offers diversification - the ability to invest in a large number of securities at the same time. A private investor can own 10-20 types of securities, while a mutual fund can have hundreds or even thousands of securities.

The protection of investors' rights is ensured by the organizational structure of the mutual fund: it divides the functions of management, storage and accounting of the fund's assets between independent structures - a management company and a specialized depository. And since the mutual fund is not a legal entity, it does not pay income tax. Thus, gains in the property of a mutual fund, including in the form of dividends and interest, are not subject to income tax.

Organizations serving mutual funds are licensed and regulated by the Federal Financial Markets Service of Russia. Mutual fund management companies are obliged to regularly publish and provide to everyone, upon request, all important information about the activities of the funds they manage.

There are two types of mutual funds in Russia: interval and open-ended.

In an interval mutual fund, the placement and redemption of shares is carried out within 14 days at least once a year, strictly in accordance with the dates specified in the Fund Rules. The assets of the interval mutual fund can be securities that do not have a recognized quotation, as well as real estate and property rights to real estate. The value of a unit of an interval fund is determined on the basis of the calculation of the value of net assets made on the eve of the next date for opening the fund.

Units of open-ended mutual funds, as a rule, are not traded on the market. When an investor buys a share in a fund, he buys it from the fund itself, and when he sells this share, he also sells it to the fund itself. In the event of a sale, the fund must pay him money, thereby reducing its net assets.

In an open-ended mutual fund, an investor can purchase and present investment units for redemption at any time convenient for him at a price that is defined as the value of the fund's net assets divided by the total number of units registered in the register as of the current date. If there is a commission (surcharges and discounts), they are, respectively, added to or subtracted from this price.

The net asset value (NAV) is the difference between the value of a fund's assets and liabilities. At the same time, assets include:

Financial investments, in particular, bonds and shares of Russian and foreign companies;

Amounts due from the sale of assets from the fund's portfolio;

The value of the accumulated coupon income;

Funds in the current account, at the manager's cash desk or on deposit at the bank;

Real estate and real estate rights (only for interval mutual funds).

Liabilities excluded from the value of assets when calculating the value of net assets include:

Loans attracted by the fund;

Amounts reserved as remuneration for the manager, depositary, registrar, appraiser and auditor, and for other expenses related to the management of the fund's property.

Since the NAV of the fund is calculated in the closing prices of the securities held by the fund, operations with shares (sale or redemption) are also performed at the end of the working day after the end of the acceptance of applications for the purchase and redemption of investment shares. In this case, the mutual fund may charge the investor an additional premium on purchase or a discount on the sale of a share. Or both, depending on the rules of the particular fund. Both the discount and the premium are the remuneration of the management company, expressed as a percentage of the value of the investment unit. Their value may depend on the method of acquiring shares, on the payment scheme and the amount of investment.

Currently, there are more than 200 mutual funds in Russia, and, I hope, the above will help the reader navigate such a matter as buying their shares.

General funds of banking management (OFBU), like mutual funds, are not legal entities and are established by commercial banks that perform the functions of managing their property. The mechanism of their investment activity consists in the accumulation of savings of the population and free resources of legal entities through the sale of certificates (non-securities) of the OFBU in order to manage collective investments.

It is advisable to include the fact that they take into management various types of savings (cash - rubles and currency, securities, other property) to the obvious investment advantages of the OFBU; the diversification capabilities of the OFBU have been expanded to include all investment instruments available on the Russian financial market. And the disadvantages are mainly in the created system of relationships with certificate holders: lack of liquidity and information opacity of activities. In addition, the OFBU allows you to place an order for the sale of certificates in 7-10 days at best (during this period, the situation on the investment market may change radically).

Undoubtedly, the most interesting and developed mechanism for the participation of an investor in collective investment is currently in Russia mutual funds.