for growth, but $5,000 isn't a lot to invest and if you put it all in one stock, you risk everything if it performs poorly. And, brokers and investment advisors can offer you advice and money management, but at a price -- you pay for their services, which reduces further the amount you have available to invest.
             So where can you invest your money? The answer for more and more Americans is to invest in mutual funds.
             More than 90 million people, or one out of every two households in America, invest in mutual funds. Currently, over $7 trillion is invested in mutual funds. While funds have been around since the 1920's, their popularity over the past 20 years has soared. The reasons: mutual funds make it easy and less costly for investors to satisfy their needs for capital growth, income and/or income preservation. And a mutual fund brings the benefits of diversification and money management to the individual investor, providing an opportunity for financial success that was once available only to the very rich.
             It's such a simple concept: a mutual fund is a company that pools the money of many investors -- its shareholders -- to invest in a variety of different securities. Investments may be in stocks, bonds, money market securities or some combination thereof. Those securities are professionally managed on behalf of the shareholders, and each investor holds a pro rata share of the portfolio -- entitled to any profits when the securities are sold, but subject to any losses in value as well.
             For the individual investor, mutual funds provide the benefit of having someone else manage your investments, take care of recordkeeping for your account, and diversify your dollars over many different securities that may not be available or affordable to you otherwise. Today, minimum investment requirements on many funds are low enough that even the smallest investor can get started in mutual funds.
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