MetLife Mutual Funds

by Admin on June 5, 2010

The holding company for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is MetLife, Inc., typically referred to as MetLife. The company headquarters are located in New York City, specifically midtown Manhattan. Up until 2000 when MetLife went public, it had been a mutual organization which is a business or company based in the principles of “mutuality” rather than being a true cooperative.

In addition to being one of the largest mutual fund companies, MetLife is the United States’ second largest life insurer and has over $3.3 trillion in life insurance accounts on their books. They are also an industry leader in other areas such as retirement and savings products and/or services for individuals, larger institutions, and small businesses. Additionally, MetLife now services the needs of 90 of the Fortune 100’s largest companies.

History of the MetLife

Although MetLife was originally founded in March of 1868, its origins date back 5 years earlier when a NYC businessmen’s group raised over $100,000 in order to establish the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company. The company was originally founded for the purpose of insuring sailors and soldiers of the Civil War against disabilities that resulted from wartime accidents, sickness, and wounds. The company struggled for 5 years and in 1868 they changed their primary focus to the life insurance business.

Products and Services MetLife offers

MetLife serves both group and individual benefit products. However, their international division also serves these benefit products to groups and individuals in Asia (the Pacific Region), Europe, and Latin America. There is also the Reinsurance Group of America but who serve clients domestically and internationally. The following is a list of the products that MetLife currently offers their clients:

  • Annuities
  • Auto & Home Insurance
  • Banking and financial services
  • Commercial/residential mortgages
  • Disability Insurance
  • Fee-based financial planning
  • Group Dental Insurance
  • Group Disability Insurance
  • Group Life Insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Long-term care insurance
  • Mutual funds as well as other investments
  • Retirement planning
  • Wealth management

What most people don’t realize is that MetLife offers it clients much more than just life insurance and other types of insurance products, especially their lines of investment products which have become very popular over the years.

MetLife mutual fund offerings

MetLife currently offers over 1,000 different mutual funds and manages over 250 families of mutual funds, an immense investment product line to say the least. The MetLife Securities division offers 7 basic categories of funds including:

  • American Funds
  • BlackRock
  • Fidelity Advisor
  • Invesco AIM
  • Lord Abbett
  • Oppenheimer
  • Putnam

These are the primary categories, but there are numerous others available. Suffice it to say, with over 1,000 different mutual funds available, MetLife has something for every type of investor imaginable.

Because of the vastness of their mutual funds assortment, you will need some time to study which one is going to best suit your financial and portfolio needs. You can obtain further information by visiting the MetLife local office and speak to a company representative.

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Fidelity Investments Mutual Funds

by Admin on June 4, 2010

One of the world’s largest mutual fund companies is Fidelity Investments whose venture capital arm is Fidelity Ventures. FIL or Fidelity International, Ltd. is the international affiliate that was originally establish over 40 years ago and serves most countries globally. The company currently manages one of the largest mutual fund families in the world today but also provides a variety of other services such as:

  • discount brokerage services
  • fund distribution services
  • investment advice services
  • life insurance
  • retirement services
  • securities clearance and execution
  • wealth management services

The parent company where the NYSE is concerned is FMR LLC which stands for Fidelity Management and Research LLC. Their primary format of operations involves financial planning, investing and trading, retirement planning, and of course, mutual funds and the distributors of them. The company is widely recognized for their flat rate of $7.95 for online trades with clients here in the US, although this fee does not apply to transactions involving foreign stocks or restricted securities.

Those transactions that involve special handling may cost more as well. A $2,500 minimum deposit is required to open any type of a brokerage account with Fidelity Investments. However, there may be some waivers that do apply. Additionally, there may be a variance in the commission schedules for certain stock plans geared to company employees. Based on specific asset levels or the combination of asset levels and trading activity, other fees may come into play.

History of Fidelity Investments

Edward C. Johnson II founded Fidelity Investments in 1949 and the company is still under the control of the Johnson family today. The company’s division of investment management in the US and Fidelity Management and Research Company is the investment advising firm to the Fidelity mutual fund family. There are now three fund divisions under the parent company (FMR LLC), namely Equity (Boston, MA), Fixed Income (Merrimack, NH), and High Income (also located in Boston, MA).

Fidelity Investments Mutual Fund Offerings

Fidelity Investments offers a broad array of different funds in order to facilitate the needs of all types of investors. These include the following 4 groups of funds and the different ones offered in each group:

Asset Allocation Funds – Fidelity Asset Manager Funds, Fidelity Freedom Funds (a.k.a. Lifecycle), and a couple of “Hybrid” funds

Bond Funds – High Yield, International/Global, National Municipal, State Municipal, and Taxable bond funds

Index Funds – Bond and Stock index funds

Stock Funds – Domestic, International/Global, Real Estate, and Specialty/Sector stock funds

All of these funds target a different form of investing so it is best to study them before choosing the ones to invest in. You would probably be wise to contact a company representative to get the information you are looking for, but you do need to know what investment direction you want to take. Just remember that mutual funds are a great way to balance out and diversify your portfolio.

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Janus Mutual Funds

June 3, 2010

The Janus Capital Group, Inc. is one of the larger mutual fund companies whose headquarters are located in Denver, CO and is publicly owned. The company has over 1,100 employees today and they provide their clients with growth as well as risk-managed strategies for better investing and manage the following types of funds:

Balanced mutual [...]

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Dreyfus Corporation Mutual Funds

June 2, 2010

The Dreyfus Corporation is one of the world’s leading financial and mutual fund companies that is currently headquartered in New York City. They have been recognized as one of the investment industry leaders and were the first firm of its type to advertise their products and services to the consumer. Additionally, they were [...]

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Vanguard Mutual Funds

June 1, 2010

Based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, the Vanguard Group is a managed investment group and mutual fund company in the US that manages roughly $1 trillion in assets. It offers a number of financial products to investors, but most importantly, mutual funds both in the US and internationally. John C. Bogle, the company founder and [...]

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Franklin Templeton Investments Mutual Funds

May 31, 2010

About Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Templeton Investments is an investment firm comprised of Franklin Resources, Inc. and its subsidiaries and was originally founded in New York City in 1947. Rupert Johnson, Sr., the company’s founder was an admirer of Benjamin Franklin, so he chose the last name as the name of the company. They [...]

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T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds

May 31, 2010

T. Rowe Price is a mutual fund company which is publicly owned and is located in Baltimore, Maryland. Their primary product is mutual funds, but they also offer sub-advisory services. In addition to these, they offer account management services for financial intermediaries, individuals, institutions, and retirement plans. They also offer investment guidance [...]

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Charles Schwab Mutual Funds

May 31, 2010

Originally founded as a brick-and-mortar brokerage, the Charles Schwab Corporation is based in San Francisco, CA and is one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world today. Although the company offers the same products and services that the traditional brokerage does, they offer lower commissions and fees than the standard stock brokerage. [...]

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American Century Investments Mutual Funds

May 26, 2010

Formerly known as Twentieth Century Mutual Funds, American Century Investments is an investment firm which is privately held. The company serves a variety of groups and individuals such as corporations, individual investors, institutions, and numerous investment professionals. The company philosophy is that the investor’s best interests are their top priority and this belief [...]

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Bank of New York Mutual Funds

May 25, 2010

The oldest financial institution in the US is the Bank of New York Mellon or BNY Mellon for short and is a historically significant company as well having been founded in 1784. The company currently operates in 6 primary financial sectors providing services such as:

asset management
asset servicing
advisory services
broker-dealer
issuance services
treasury services

BNY Mellon was established in [...]

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